


Gem Legion

by PeskyFries



Category: Legion of Super Heroes (TV), Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Embedded Images, Multi, now with my own illustrations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-20 10:15:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 37,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9486827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeskyFries/pseuds/PeskyFries
Summary: Clark "Ruby" Kent learns about his past and his species as he becomes part of the Gem Legion, a group of rebellious Gems that dedicate their lives to protecting the planet Earth from danger.





	1. Chapter 1

Clark Ruby Kent thought he would attract more attention, with his red skin, and naturally dark red hair, and dark red eyes, and tall stature. Instead, he was sitting on the beach, in his usual button-up shirt and sweater vest, looking out into the ocean, with hardly anyone paying him any attention.

Back in Kansas, he was seen as… unusual, to say the least. He was raised by his adoptive parents, the Kents, on a small farm in Kansas, homeschooled most of his life. He hardly ever got to interact with other people, though it wasn’t from restriction from his parents. It was because of his… unusual looks.

The kids back in Kansas weren’t so fond of him; with him being a dorky-looking farmboy, with red skin and hair, and a Gem on his body, he wasn’t well-received. He was happy living with his loving parents, but he sometimes longed for a friend.

Martha and Jonathan Kent, his parents, knew of their son’s troubles, and it was soon after he turned sixteen years old did they announce that they were moving from Smallville, Kansas to Metropolis, which was located in the Delmarva Peninsula. The people are more open-minded there, they insisted. They’d live next to the beach, where Jonathan Kent would open a nice, small general store. He’d spend his summer getting to know the beachside city and make some friends.

When Clark heard the news, he wasn’t so excited. Nothing would change. He’d still be surrounded by humans. What he strived for was for people like himself; fellow Gems. Even just one Gem, even if it was just for a brief moment, to meet and talk, just so he wouldn’t feel like he was the only Gem on Earth. He knew it was too much to hope for in this world full of humans. He remembered little from his life with Gems, though he still longed for contact with just one Gem.

Though Martha Kent was right; Clark could tell that the humans were more open-minded at the beachside city. Nobody pointed, or jeered, or shouted when he walked by on the streets. Some stared, though most didn’t say anything to him. Not a single insult thrown in his direction. For the most part, people left him alone.

As his parents went to the small general store that would soon be theirs, they instructed Clark to have a “good time.”

“Take some time to get to know the place,” Jonathan insisted. “Go get some fresh air, son.”

“And be friendly, remember your manners,” Martha said. “Don’t lose your temper out there, Clark. Make a friend or two out there, alright?”

Clark obeyed his parents, walking around, wondering if there was anything good to eat near the beach. He wondered if the humans would say something. Gems didn’t  _ need _ to eat, though Clark still liked to. Then he had to remind himself that humans didn’t know anything about Gems.

_ ‘And it’s always gonna be like that, isn’t it? _ ’ Clark thought bitterly. He looked around; the beachgoers were paying him no mind. It was at least a bit better than the stares and insults. Still, though, now it felt as though he were being ignored, which wasn’t much better.

He sighed. Maybe he’d buy himself a snack.

* * *

When Clark walked into the donut store, he was prepared for the questions and the stares, though was met with nothing more than a puzzled look from the dark-haired cashier girl.

“I’ll have two donuts,” Clark asked nervously.

The girl, however, didn’t protest or pry for questions; instead, she grabbed the two donuts he pointed at, and put them in a white paper bag. “That’ll be two-fifty, please.”

Clark got a five-dollar bill from his pocket. “Thanks.” He was about to walk out when the guy stocking some ice cream treats looked over at him.

“You one of those Gem Legion guys?”

Clark felt his stomach leap. “Did you say  _ Gem _ ?” He turned to look at the teen. The teen looked lazily up at him.

“Yeah, one of those Gem Legion guys that fight monsters and stuff,” the guy insisted. “You’re one of them, right? You have one of those weird gems on you, like they do.”

“N-No,” Clark said, dropping his bag. “You mean, there’s people here like me? Gems? People with  _ Gems  _ on their bodies? What are they like? Where are they?”

“On the beach,” the guy said casually. “They fenced off their house but they sometimes come out of there to fight these weird monsters.”

“Are they  _ good _ ?” Clark asked. “Are they, like, good people?”

“I guess so,” the girl at the counter piped up. “They fight off the monsters, and sometimes they hang out around the beach, but I’ve never seen them talking to anyone before. I mean, they have to be nice, if they save our lives all the time, right? You look like you’d fit in with them. Are you, like, new or something?”

Clark felt his heart leap. If there were Gems here, Gems like him, with weird skin and cool powers…

“Where exactly on the beach are they?” Clark demanded.

* * *

‘ _ I wonder if other Gems like donuts, _ ’ Clark thought. He didn’t know how many Gems there were, but he decided to buy some extra donuts, just in case.

He walked past the beachside toy shop, just like instructed back at the donut shop. Past the burger place, then towards the cliff that had a lighthouse on top…

He walked along the white picket fence, and was surprised to see a sign on it. The top of the sign was painted in big red letters on a wooden board: “DO NOT ENTER.” Underneath was a smaller, white plank that read in pink, delicate cursive letters: “ _ Please _ .”

He didn’t see a way in; this part of the beach was completely fenced off from the rest. There wasn’t anybody nearby; Clark couldn’t see or hear the other beachgoers from here. He sighed, then put his hands on the top of the fence, holding the bag of donuts in his teeth, and started to lift himself up.

He guessed he must’ve weighed more than he thought, because the wooden boards underneath him broke.

“Oh, gosh,” Clark said, picking up the bag as he brushed off the sand from his clothes. “Maybe they won’t even notice…?” He hopped over the broken wood and walked closer to the cliff. He gasped when he saw the building attached to the cliff.

The building was a tall, cylindrical building made out of bronze, with a strange symbol on the center: a golden circle, with an L-shaped divide on it, with the inside having a five-pointed star. Four metal parts jutted out on the top, making it resemble an upside-down rocket. At the base was a dome-shaped opening with two light-blue doors. It faced away from the beachside city, and into the sea. Despite it looking nice and shiny, it was surrounded by moss-covered rocks and overgrown bushes.

“Whoa,” Clark muttered. “ _ Cool _ … I wonder if they’re in there...”

“ _ Hoo? _ ”

Clark looked up to see a magnificent snowy owl, perched on a rock close to him. Her pale eyes stared up at him. Clark thought it strange that it was out and about in the late evening, and so close to the beach. He shrugged it off.

“Oh, nobody,” he said jokingly. “Just looking for some Gems.” He looked down at his shirt, and absentmindedly unbuttoned the first few buttons on his shirt to look down at his Gem.

The owl’s eyes turned wide, as its eyes stared at the giant red Ruby peeking out from the shirt. “ _ WHAT? _ ”

Clark stared. “ _ You talk _ ?”

The owl ignored his words; instead, she flew off, her wings flapping noiselessly. “Mahogany! It’s another Gem! I  _ swear  _ it’s a Gem this time!”

Clark stared at the owl, not daring to move. He could barely register what had just happened.

A person came sprinting from the building. An athletic-looking, dark teenager in an orange-and-brown jumpsuit, with matching dark-brown gloves and boots. His skin was a desaturated brown, with long, untamed black hair with a single white stripe. The whites of his eyes were pale yellow, and his pupils were a striking orange. The snowy owl flew right behind him.

“It’s probably just a human that came over the fence again, just tell them to lea…” His words trailed off as is orange eyes spotted Clark, with his Gem partially exposed, grinning sheepishly and holding a paper bag.

“I brought donuts,” Clark said cheerfully.

This didn’t go over well with the stranger. He showed his Gem- a Mahogany Obsidian on the back of his left hand- and pulled out a sort of long staff with a clawed hand on the end. He pointed it at Clark’s face. He didn’t  _ dare  _ to move.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” Mahogany growled. Clark could see the inch-long incisors.

The snowy owl flew in a circle around them, though she quickly shifted into a more humanoid shape. This gem was more feminine; her oval-shaped face was accompanied by thick, silky black hair, her eyes a haunting, pale gray. Her black-and-white outfit accentuated her thin frame. She floated momentarily in the air, though gracefully swooped down to the sand, beside Mahogany. She reached behind her, and pulled out a scythe from seemingly nowhere.

Clark held up the bag. He started talking, very fast. “I-I heard there were Gems living here, so I thought I’d come down here, and say hello. I brought donuts. I-I don’t know if you guys would  _ like _ donuts, and I know Gems don’t  _ need _ to eat, but I thought, you know, who  _ doesn’t _ like donuts, so…” He offered it to them.

The pale Gem took the bag, though kept her scythe close-by.

“How did you get here?” Mahogany asked.

“I moved here from Kansas a few days ago,” Clark said.

“Don’t lie, you’re from  _ Homeworld _ , aren’t you?” the pale Gem accused.

“ _ Homeworld _ ?” Clark asked. He hasn’t heard that name in a long, long time… “I mean, I  _ think  _ I was created there, but I was only there for a few days. But I’ve been living on Earth for sixteen years, now.”

“What do you want from us?” Mahogany demanded. “Were you ordered to shatter us? Bubble us? What do you  _ want  _ from us? Who sent you here?”

“I’m not here to do anything like that,” Clark insisted. “I just… I haven’t seen another Gem in so  _ long _ .”

“I wish Pink Topaz was here,” the pale Gem sighed. “She could tell if he was lying or not.”

“Howlite, do you know if there are any other Gems in the temple?” Mahogany asked.

Howlite thought. “I think it’s just us here; the others went to that old Gem Sea Spire. Looks like we’re on our own.”

“There’s  _ more _ ?” Clark asked hopefully. However, this didn’t look like the right thing to say; the two Gems cast dark looks at each other.

“Let’s just bubble this one,” Mahogany stated, stepping closer to Clark, though he backed up by one step. “We can tell them what happened later.”

“Sorry about this,” Howlite said, not looking sorry at all as she swung her scythe behind her, then swung it back, straight for Clark’s chest-

“ _ No _ !”

_ CLANG. _

Howlite’s scythe made direct contact with an enormous, red aspis shield, held in Clark’s arm. His Gem glowed brightly through his shirt.

“Please, wait,” Clark said, now starting to sound a bit desperate. He lowered the aspis shield, so that he could see their faces. “I didn’t come here to fight. I just… I haven’t seen a Gem in  _ years _ , and I just thought you’d want to be friends with me. I’ve been living with humans for  _ so long _ , I just wanted to…” Clark sighed, fighting back the burning in his eyes. “...to meet someone like  _ me _ .”

Mahogany Obsidian and Howlite looked at each other.

“Please, just give me a chance to explain,” Clark pleaded. “My name is Clark Ruby Kent. I’m a Ruby, Facet K4L-3L, Cut 38. I was raised by humans. I’ve lived most of my life here.”

“So how’d you get stuck here?” Howlite asked. “We haven’t seen a Ruby here in over five thousand years, and you certainly don’t  _ look _ like one. Are you Era 1 or Era 2?”

“I don’t know what that means,” Clark admitted.

“How long ago were you made?”

“About sixteen years ago,” Clark explained.

“Must be Era 2, but it’s weird that you can shapeshift your body like that…” Mahogany stopped to think for a bit. “How did you get here on Earth, can you remember?”

Clark paused to think for a bit. “I was made in some kind of canyon. I don’t remember all of the Gems that were there. There was a bunch of other Rubies, small ones, like me, and some Peridots, and some other blue Gems, but I don’t remember which kinds they were. And a big pink one, I think.”

“But how did you get to Earth?” Mahogany asked. “What happened?”

Clark thought about it again. “My memory is really fuzzy on that day. The big pink Gem told me and a few other Gems that we had to evacuate on the Ruby vessels. But they put in the coordinates for me, and they sent me to Earth, instead of Homeworld. I looked back outside to see the planet I was made on, but I saw it explode. I don’t even know how or why.” He looked up at them in fright. “Was it destroyed? Homeworld, I mean? Is it gone?”

“Sounds like you were made on a small asteroid or dwarf planet near Homeworld,” Mahogany observed. “Homeworld is still here, to this day, no doubt about that. And how old were you when you had to escape the asteroid?”

“Only a few Earth days,” Clark stated. “And then I landed on Earth, and I landed on a farm in Kansas. That’s when the Kents found me.”

“Who are the Kents?” Howlite asked.

“Two humans,” Clark explained. “I landed on their farm, and they thought I was a kid. I explained the whole thing to them, and I didn’t really have anywhere else to go, so they decided to keep me as their son.”

“So you found yourself a little family on Earth,” Howlite said, smiling sweetly. “I think that might explain why you’re so big, now.”

“What do you mean?” Clark asked. “Don’t all Gems grow?”

_ ‘Great,’ _ Clark thought,  _ ‘now you’re an outsider, to even your own kind _ .’

“It’s complicated,” Mahogany said. “When you were born from the ground, you could walk and talk and use your powers just fine. And certain Gems are treated in certain ways. Rubies are small and usually… not bright.” His pointy ears drooped a bit. “No offence.”

“None taken,” Clark said dismissively.

“Anyway, certain Gems are treated certain ways,” Mahogany continued. “Rubies are usually treated as nothing more than dumb, immature soldiers. But sometimes, when Gems go through some experiences, their bodies can mature to adjust to their minds. You grew up around humans, so your body adjusted to be like a human’s.”

“Can I ask how old you guys are?” Clark asked.

“Most of the Gem Legion are several thousand years old,” Mahogany said. “You said you haven’t met any other Gems since you left your asteroid?”

“Not really,” Clark said. “I’ve mostly just stayed on my farm with my parents.”

“And you moved out here to the city?” Howlite asked.

“My parents thought it’d be good for me to socialize with more people,” Clark explained. “What are  _ you _ guys doing here? The locals told me you protect them from Gem monsters.”

Howlite stood proudly and heroically. “We’re part of the Gem Legion! We stay here on Earth to protect them from Gem monsters that cause destruction! A lot of Gem monsters come around this area, so we set up our Legionnaire Headquarters here on this beach, about five thousand years ago!”

“Do you remember the rebellion, and the war?” Mahogany asked.

Clark thought back to his few days on that canyon. “I remember the war; a bunch of Gems didn’t want Earth to be colonized, so you guys had a war here. They told me I was supposed to fight the rebels, but…” He grinned sheepishly. “Well, this place is my  _ home _ ; I’d never want them to colonize here. So I guess that means I’m on the rebels’ side.”

Howlite smiled. “And  _ we’re  _ the rebellion.” She looked up sadly at Mahogany. “At least, what’s left of it…”

“You guys said there are Gem monsters, or whatever, here?” Clark asked. “And you guys have to fight them? If you guys ever needed my help…”

Howlite smiled up at Mahogany. “ _ Please _ ?”

Mahogany sighed. “This isn’t the same thing as keeping a pet. This guy isn’t trained in combat, he has a family, he can’t just  _ move in _ …”

“I could move in,” Clark said quickly. “I  _ want  _ to be here, with Gems! And this isn’t so far away from my house! And if I could help you with these monster things…”

Howlite and Mahogany looked at each other sadly. Howlite spoke up. “But, you have to know that this stuff is  _ dangerous _ ; we fight monsters almost  _ daily _ , and we sometimes have to travel far away from here, and sometimes for  _ days _ …”

“I don’t have school,” Clark said. “It’s summer, and I’m homeschooled anyway! But I just wanna be with Gems again. And the people in Metropolis seem really nice, too…” Clark smiled up at them. “I just wanna be around people like me, again.”

“We could use a powerhouse like you,” Mahogany observed. “Rubies were made for war, and you look well-made…” He looked down at the Gem on Clark’s exposed chest. “I’d say you were made very carefully by Homeworld. So, you really wanna do this? Be part of the Gem Legion?”

“Yes,” Clark said, smiling widely. “I really wanna be with you guys!”

Howlite floated and twirled in the air in happiness. “This is gonna be  _ great _ ! You can live with us, and you can be our friend, and you’ll have  _ so much fun _ ! The others are so cool, and our headquarters is the  _ best _ ! Come on, let’s go! We’ll give you a little tour!”

Clark followed the two into the Headquarters; as they walked up to the light blue doors, they opened automatically, and Clark gasped when he walked in.

The inside of the first room looked like the interior of a light purple geode. An odd, circular, flat object was in the very center of the room. It seemed to be made of some kind of crystal, and was totally flat and smooth on top. It glowed slightly. It lit up the whole room magnificently. Behind the strange crystal was a door, with several Gems placed in a circle formation.

“That door leads to our rooms,” Mahogany explained. “The thing is, we don’t know how to add more rooms, that will open for just you to have your own room…”

Clark smiled politely. “It’s fine, I live with my parents.”

“But Ruby shouldn’t be so far away,” Howlite said. “He should be close to us, in case of an emergency!”

Clark sighed. “If it’s okay with you guys, can you guys all just call me Clark? My legal name is Clark Ruby Kent, but everyone just calls me Clark.”

“Sure thing, Clark,” Howlite said simply, and pulled him towards the flat crystal. “Do you know what this is?”

“I’ve never seen one before,” Clark admitted.

“It’s a warp pad,” Mahogany explained. “It can take you anywhere you want, as long as there’s a functioning warp pad there. There’s a bunch of them all over Earth. You don’t have to worry about anyone from Homeworld coming through them, though; we’ve broken all the ones that are connected to there.”

Clark thought. “Do you think there are any in Kansas?”

“Of course,” Mahogany assured him. “Like I said, there’s a bunch scattered all over Earth. Plenty of ‘em, all over the planet, and in almost every state here in the United States. The Gem Legion uses them all the time.”

“How many more Gem Legionnaires are there?” Clark asked. “When can I meet them all?”

“Well, there’s a few of us left,” Howlite said. “Most of us are here in Metropolis, but we have others way out in California. We don’t get to see them often, because they have their own Gem monsters to fight way out there. But there’s plenty of us here! There’s Sphalerite, Pink Topaz, Benitoite, and Ametrine. They all live here.”

“Don’t the humans ever get mad at you, or anything?” Clark asked. “Back in Kansas, I didn’t make a lot of friends…”

_ ‘Or  _ any _ friends, more like it,’ _ Clark thought sadly.

“They don’t bother us,” Mahogany assured him. “Some of them think we’re cool, but I think some of them get annoyed at all the property damage we cause, thanks to our fights with monsters.” He smiled up at Clark. “But don’t worry, they’re friendly.”

“Now that I think about it,” Howlite burst out, “we could  _ build _ Clark a nice little human house, so he can live here and feel right at home! With a nice bed, and a kitchen, and everything! It would be so  _ cute _ !” She started floating around the entrance, pointing out where certain things could go, mostly talking to herself.

“She gets like this whenever she meets someone new,” Mahogany explained to Clark, smiling. “Don’t let it bother you too much, usually, she’s cool.”

Clark didn’t care about how hyper she was; instead, seeing her so excited made him feel happy, as though her hyperness was contagious. “This is gonna be so  _ great _ ! Just wait ‘til I tell my my and pa about  _ this _ …” He turned to Mahogany. “Do you think the other Legionnaires will accept me?”

“Of course,” Mahogany said reassuringly. “They’ll understand once we explain everything to them. It’s gonna take a while to adjust to living with Gems, but you’ll fit right in.”

“I sure hope so,” Clark said, smiling nervously. Just then, he saw the room glowing brighter.

The three Gems turned to the warp pad, and saw it activate; a pillar of light rose around it, and quickly died down. Clark blinked; four new Gems appeared on the spot, all of them looking rather worn out and wet. The orange-haired one spoke up.

“Hey, guys, everything okay while we were out?” he said, shaking his wet hair. “The Sea Spire fell over, but we got some nice stuff out of there bef…”

The four newcomers spotted Clark, his Gem still exposed, and immediately brought their weapons out. “Who the hell is  _ that _ ?”

“Oh boy,” Clark sighed. “We’ve got some explaining to do…”


	2. Facet AW06 Cut B5

It took a while for the Gems to calm down after seeing Clark, but Mahogany Obsidian and Howlite managed to stop the would-be attack just in time. He was introduced to a variety of new gems: Alunite, the tallest Gem out of everyone, with his Gem over his left eye; Ametrine, the second-tallest besides Alunite, with three triangle-shaped, orange-white-purple Gems on her chest; Benitoite, whose Gem was on his stomach; and Pink Topaz, with a heart-shaped Gem over her chest.

Sadly, though, he couldn’t stay much longer; his parents wanted him to come home before it got dark out. He excused himself, saying he would return in the morning. He couldn’t help but remember that Gems didn’t _need_ sleep, but he had grown accustomed to it throughout the years. As he laid down in bed, he tried to fall asleep, but couldn’t help but think of the Gems, and wondered what would be in store for him tomorrow, as an official member of the Gem Legion.

* * *

“ _Whoa_ , what’s going on?”

Clark could only stare as the Gems from yesterday had started building something wooden around the dome-shaped entrance to the Headquarters. It looked a lot like the foundation of a house. The roof, he could see, was half-complete, as was one of the walls.

Howlite looked up from the small box of nails she was digging through. “Surprise! It’s your room!”

Clark gaped. “You guys are _building me a house_?”

Pink Topaz, the pink-skinned one with long, pale blonde hair, spoke up. “I know that this is fairly _primitive_ compared to the rooms we share inside the Headquarters, but we couldn’t add a room inside that only you could activate, so Mahogany Obsidian thought it would be best to build your room around the entrance. We could give it a human-like feel to it by making it look like a house.”

Clark smiled. “Y-You guys didn’t have to do all this, just for me…”

“Oh, this is _nothing_ compared to building the headquarters,” Benitoite said. Clark could see his spiky hair and yellow goggles poking out from the roof of the entrance. “That took us _years_ to make! Course, back then, we didn’t know what we were doing...”

“Well, maybe I could help,” Clark suggested. “I don’t want you guys doing all the heavy work.”

“We’re fine here,” Pink Topaz insisted. “This is nothing, just like Benitoite said.”

It was at that very moment that both Benitoite and Ametrine fell from the top. When Clark looked up, he saw a hole in the ‘roof’.

“I take it you two aren’t done with the roof yet?” Alunite asked.

“Not even close,” Ametrine said lightly, helping Benitoite to his feet. “But I swear, we’ll have it done by tonight!”

“Tonight?” Clark asked, doubt in his voice. “You guys are gonna build a house in one day?”

“Do we look dumb?” Alunite asked.  “We looked stuff up on the internet, I’m sure we’re doing fine.”

“Is that a good idea?” Clark asked. “I don’t want you guys getting hurt, trying to make me a house.”

“We won’t get hurt,” Ametrine reassured him as she climbed up the roof again. “But we do want you to get to know your new home.”

“But you haven’t really built it yet,” Clark said.

“What we mean is,” Benitoite said, “we’re gonna give you a little tour of the inside of the Headquarters. You know, the magical inside parts.”

“Really?” Clark said. “What’s in there?”

“Our rooms,” Benitoite said. “And some extra rooms for storing our weapons, all that stuff. I’ll take you around couple of rooms, alright?”

Clark nodded. “Sure.” Benitoite guided him into the half-built house, and helped him step over the fallen pieces of wood, and towards the door behind the Warp Pad. On it were multiple Gems alongside the edges.

“This door leads you to all of our rooms,” Benitoite said. “I’ll open mine up.” The round blue Gem on his stomach glowed, as did the matching one on the door. It opened up to reveal a blue room, and Clark followed.

“Whoa,” Clark gasped, as he looked around.

Benitoite smiled sheepishly. “Sorry about the mess; _this_ is my room.”

Large, pointed blue gems burst from the ground… which Clark suddenly realized he couldn’t make out, with the mess. The room was covered in so much human junk; Clark wondered how he even got them. Empty bags and boxes of fast food, cardboard boxes with garbage in them, potted plants, umbrellas, old grocery tote bags, and then some _really_ unusual stuff. An empty fridge, a guitar, creepy masks, a whole bathtub, a sleeping bag, a piece of brick wall, and, amazingly, an entire T-Rex skeleton, erected like one in a museum. Clark gaped at it.

“Oh, you like it?” Benitoite said. “I found that thing in the ground, and Alunite helped me build it like in those fancy museum places.”

“Where’d you _get_ all this stuff?” Clark asked.

“I dunno,” Benitoite said, shrugging. “I just grab stuff from wherever, I guess. It’s just junk humans throw out, but I like all this stuff. I really like their video games, though, _so_ cool. Even though Alunite thinks it’s _nerdy_.”

“Are all of your rooms like this?” Clark asked.

“Nah,” Benitoite said, walking through effortlessly as Clark struggled to get through, careful not to step on his stuff. “Pink Topaz has some pretty trees in her room. Ametrine’s is full of books and magazines and stuff. Alunite… Well, I don’t know, he doesn’t let anyone go inside.”

“Can we go check out their rooms, too?” Clark asked.

Benitoite jumped down from a cliff Clark didn’t notice, onto a mattress. Clark looked down to see him shapeshifted into a giant bouncing ball.

“Sorry, no can do,” Benitoite said, and shifted back to his original self. “They’d have to open the rooms with their Gems. There are other rooms I can take you to, though. Jump down here, I’ll show you our tech room.”

Clark jumped down after him, and noticed another door opening up from seemingly nowhere. Benitoite walked through, and Clark followed.

Clark was amazed to find a circular gray room, well-lit by the monitors on the walls, with enormous control panels circling the whole place. There were scraps of metal everywhere, small machines, some half-formed, some finished. He saw gauntlets and lasers, odd robotic legs and forearms, drills, screws, and other stuff he didn’t recognize.

“This is where we keep the inventions,” Benitoite explained. “We don’t use these a whole lot, but we keep them in case we need them.”

“This is really cool,” Clark said, looking up at the monitors. One of them showed a map of the city. Multiple red dots were marked on it, with a majority of them on the Delmarva Peninsula, and on the coast of southern California. “What’s this for?”

“We use that to track down any Gem monsters that might be nearby,” Benitoite explained.

“Who made all this stuff?” Clark asked, now observing a laser.

“O-Oh,” Benitoite said, blushing. “I did, actually. It’s not much, I just make these in my spare time…”

“Are you kidding me?” Clark said, grinning. “Benitoite, this is so cool! I can’t believe you made all this!”

Benitoite smiled in an embarrassed sort of way. “Well, I guess this is all I can really show you right now, though. You can tinker around with the stuff, if you’d like. I’m gonna go check up on the others, so you just stay put for right now, okay?”

Clark’s eyes widened. “Wait, but what if I get lost or I break something?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Benitoite said soothingly. “I’ll be gone for a few minutes tops, I just wanna make sure Alunite doesn’t try and install the door upside down or something. You can look around here, if you don’t wanna risk getting lost. Be back soon, okay?” With that, Benitoite left, leaving Clark standing there nervously.

“This is fine,” Clark said, sitting down on an odd orange chair, then standing up again when he didn’t like the feel of it. “I’m just in someone’s Gem temple, in a room full of dangerous weapons…” Reluctantly, he walked around, trying not to step on anything. On one monitor was a laser gun that looked half-complete. He picked it up, curiously.

“This is so weird,” Clark muttered, as he turned it over in his hands, observing it from every angle. “Wonder if I can bring my parents up here; they’d probably freak if-”

 **_CRASH_ ** _._

Clark accidentally pushed a button on the side of the laser, which made it shoot out a red beam… right at one of the shelves in the room, destroying the lower half, and knocking the rest over very noisily.

Clark immediately rushed over to try and grab the fallen stuff. “Crap, crap, _crap_ , now what am I gonna… _huh_?”

He had just picked up a laptop-like device, and noticed something weird. A green, small, circular Gem on the back. It was so small, probably the size of a marble. It was like a living Gem’s stone. But why was it on a laptop? Nothing else in the room had anything like it.

He knew he shouldn’t mess with more stuff- he’d already destroyed several of Benitoite’s devices -but this weird laptop made him curious.

“What kind of Gem is this?” Clark asked himself. He didn’t know much about Gem technology, but was it normal for Gems to use gemstones in their stuff like this?

He wondered… He grabbed the Gem with two fingers, and tried to pry it out.

No such luck. He could feel it slip out just a _little_ bit, but it was still firmly stuck in the laptop.

“Maybe you’re just a decoration,” Clark said.

And then the Gem glowed. Very briefly, just a slight glow, but Clark could easily see it.

He gasped. So it was alive. But how did it get stuck in the laptop?

Again, he tried to pry it out. And again, it glowed, though it was still stuck. For the third time, he tried pulling it out… and it finally popped out, revealing the hollow part of the laptop.

“Gotcha,” Clark said, smiling down at the Gem as he polished it with his sleeve. “Now, what are you?”

He turned the Gem around in his hand, wondering what he was supposed to do now. Maybe he should show it to Benitoite, he might know what to do…

But the gem suddenly flew from his hand, and Clark watched as it made its way to the center of the room, floating there… and then it started to _grow_.

Well, the Gem itself didn’t grow. Instead, a strange, glowing green aura surrounded the Gem, and it started to grow, then form into something _humanoid._

Clark gasped, and hid behind a pile of junk. He peeked out at the Gem, wondering what was going to happen now.

The Gem stopped glowing, and now, in the center of the room, stood an unknown Gem.

He had shoulder-length, blond, messy hair that had bangs, which partially covered the Gem on his forehead,  though kept his green eyes exposed. He was shorter than Clark by about a head, and very thin. He wore a black-and-purple one-piece outfit that covered everything but his face and forearms. His skin was also a dark, dull green color, though his Gem was more saturated. On the chest of his uniform were three white circles in a V formation, connected by three lines.

Clark stayed behind the junk pile, as the Gem looked around, taking in his surroundings.

“Now this is unusual,” he said, looking at the monitors. “Nobody is in the vicinity, and this room has changed drastically since the last time I was here… How long have I been trapped?”

Clark just stared at the Gem, as he dug through another pile of junk.

“Good to know those Gem Legion clods were smart enough to keep my limb enhancers,” the Gem muttered, as he grabbed some robotic parts and started pulling them over his arms and legs.

Clark slowly stood up. “Um… hi.”

The Gem turned sharply at that sound, and quickly grabbed a laser gun from the table… and pointed it at Clark’s chest. “ _Freeze_ , you clod!”

Clark stepped back a pit, holding his arms up in surrender. “Okay, okay! I wasn’t gonna try to hurt you!”

The Gem looked down at Clark’s clothing. “Are those _human_ clothes? Who are you? What are you doing?”

Clark felt frozen, though somehow managed to get his mouth open. “I’m Clark Kent!”

The Gem stared at him, a look of doubt on his face. “The last time I checked, humans do not come in the color red. Who are you, really?”

Clark sighed; he didn’t want to have to explain his whole life story to another Gem. “I’m Ruby, Facet K4L-3L, Cut 38.”

The Gem snorted.

Clark narrowed his eyes. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, sure, a Ruby,” the Gem said, still smiling. “You really expect me to believe that?” He looked at him up and down. “Judging by your color and build, you are most likely a Carnelian. The only way you could be a Ruby is if you were somehow made to be _perfect_.” His nose crinkled. “Which I doubt, considering your fashion choices.”

Clark was starting not to like this stranger, but he tried to be kind, regardless. “Are you a Gem Legionnaire, too?”

The Gem scoffed. “As if!”

Clark sighed. “So… you’re from Homeworld?”

“Correct,” the Gem stated. “I am Peridot, Facet AW06, Cut B5. You will call me Peridot.”

Clark rolled his eyes. “Okay, Peridot. So, you’re from Homeworld, but what are you doing _here_ , on Earth?”

Peridot scowled. “That is… classified.” He started to lower his weapon. “And I am assuming you are a Gem Legionnaire, are you not?”

“Sorta,” Clark said. “I just started hanging out with them, I mean. So, yes?” He blinked. “So, you’re not a Legionnaire, but you came to Earth, and you don’t wanna tell me why, but why were you trapped in that laptop?”

Peridot’s teeth started to grind. “Oh, that I would _love_ to share…”

* * *

 

**Approximately 5,000 Years Ago…**

_The first thing Peridot could see once the light of the Warp Pad died down was_ chaos _._

__

_For miles around, all he could see were Gems, fighting each other mercilessly. He cursed himself for choosing the exact_ wrong _moment to warp in the middle of a battlefield. He tried running; he didn’t even know where he was headed, or what he was going to do, he just wanted to be away from Homeworld, away from_ her _…_

_“Aha! Gotcha!”_

_Peridot felt something warm on his back, and was shocked to find a small Ruby soldier clinging to him… with a knife in her hand._

_Peridot was about to retaliate, but a Bismuth grabbed the Ruby by her hair and threw her to the ground, making her poof back into her Gem. And then the Bismuth started running towards him, a large hammer in her hand…_

_Peridot tried running away, but the Bismuth was gaining on him. He tripped and fell, and he twisted himself around to see the Bismuth raising her weapon, ready to slam it down on him…_

_...until a blue katana pierced her stomach, making her revert to her own Gem. A blue Gem walked up to him. “Hey! You okay?”_

_The Gem was tall and wide, with baby blue skin and a dark blue-and-black outfit, with a small circle revealing a round, blue Benitoite Gem on his stomach. He wore yellow goggles on his forehead, which helped push back his spiky blue hair._

_“Y-Yes,” Peridot said, standing back up. “Whose- HEY!”_

_Another Gem had grabbed him from behind, and lifted him up from the ground. “Put me down, you_ clod _! Do you have any idea who I am?”_

 _“Of course I do,” a feminine voice said, and he turned to see a pale feminine Gem with shiny black hair. “You’re Peridot 5. Yellow Diamond’s_ secretary _.”_

_At those words, Benitoite readied his weapon again. “Grife! I thought he was one of us! What do we do with him?”_

_“Let me go!” Peridot spat. “I want nothing more to do with you, or Homeworld, or ANYBODY! Leave me be!”_

_“No can do, short-stack,” the pale Gem said. “Unless you haven’t noticed,_ you’re _the reason why us Legionnaires are having trouble with this war, thanks to your stupid inventions. Now I think we’re gonna take you inside, doesn’t that sound fun?”_

_With that, he saw Benitoite raise up his katana, and strike it down deep into Peridot’s torso, and he was soon poofed into his Gem._

_-_

_When he came to, he immediately noticed that he was surrounded by a small group of Gem Legionnaires, all of them holding weapons, all of them glaring at him. He looked down at himself, and noticed that his limb enhancers were missing._

_“What are you going to do?” Peridot asked immediately. “Shatter me?”_

_An Alunite spoke up. “Nope, we wouldn’t do that.” The Alunite had short orange hair, peach skin, and wore a blue-white-and-yellow outfit, with short sleeves and gloves. His Gem replaced his left eye. “We’re not like you Homeworld Gems.”_

_Peridot’s jaw clenched. “I want nothing more to do with Homeworld.”_

_A pink Gem spoke up. “Oh? And why is that?”_

_Peridot looked away from her. “I do not wish to say.”_

_“Do you want to become a Gem Legionnaire?”_

_Before he could reply, Alunite spoke up._

_“Pink, that’s_ Peridot 5 _! He was commissioned by Yellow Diamond himself just to make weapons against us! He doesn’t wanna join us, he wants to_ shatter _us!” He gave a cruel smile to Peridot. “Heard you got promoted to Yellow Diamond’s secretary, and lead weapon designer. You must be pretty proud of yourself.”_

_Peridot frowned. “I am not. At least, not anymore.”_

_“I’m so sure. Now, are you gonna give us info on your side, or what?”_

_Peridot sighed. “I have nothing for you. All I know, you know already; you can very clearly see the weapons I have created on the battlefield.”_

_“You don’t wanna give us info?” Alunite asked. “Fine. But you’re not getting away so easily.” He brought out his weapon- an electric baton. And swung it at him._

* * *

 

**Present Day…**

“And then he put me in that _horrible_ contraption,” Peridot concluded. “Nobody has ever taken me out… until now, at least.”

“So, you _don’t_ wanna hurt them?” Clark asked.

“Oh _yes_ I do,” Peridot said, seething, “but not for being rebels. How _dare_ they put me in such a contraption! And I imagine it’s been _years_ since that’s happened. And to think it wasn’t even one of _them_ that finally decided to let me out...”

Clark sighed. “So, you _sure_ you don’t wanna tell me why you came to Earth in the first place?”

Peridot just glared.

“That’s a _no_ . So… _do_ you _wanna_ become a Gem Legionnaire?”

“ _No_ ,” Peridot said firmly. “After what _they’ve_ done? I just want to go on my own, away from them!”

“Where did you wanna go?” Clark sat down cross-legged on the floor, and Peridot reluctantly did the same. “Homeworld?”

“ _Never!_ ” Peridot blurted out. “I do not _ever_ want to show my face there _ever again_!” Realizing what he just did, he blushed, looking down at his legs. “N-No. I mean, no.”

“So, you wanted to leave Homeworld forever,” Clark said, “and you definitely _don’t_ wanna stay here. Where were you planning on going, then?”

“I do not know,” Peridot admitted. “I may have not thought through my plan very well. All I know is, I wasn’t welcome on Homeworld anymore, and I am most _definitely_ not-”

Suddenly, the door opened, as Benitoite walked in, his hair specked with sawdust. “Hey, Clark, sorry for the wait, Alunite didn’t know how to work the power drill, so I had to…”

He spotted Clark sitting with Peridot on the floor. Peridot took the opportunity to jump and hide behind Clark’s large body.

“Wait, I can explain!” Clark said, but Benitoite was already bringing his weapon out.

“Clark, don’t try and protect him!” Benitoite said. “He’s from Homeworld!”

“So are most of you Gem Legionnaires!” Peridot countered.

“Wait, hear me out,” Clark said, “Peri seems like a nice guy, why don’t you leave him alone? Can’t we talk this out?”

“ _Peri_ ?” Peridot sneered. “It’s Peridot 5 to you, _clod_ . I was the fifth Peridot ever created, so you had _better_ show me respect.”

Clark rolled his eyes. “Listen, Peri doesn’t want any trouble, he just wants to… Well, neither of us really knows, but can’t we talk this out?”

“Do you have any idea how many of his weapons have shattered other Gem Legionnaires?” Benitoite asked. “It’s gonna take a lot to convince us to just let him go, wherever he wants!” He sighed. “But, fine, if you really trust him, then I’ll try and get the others to talk with him.”

* * *

“Why is Ametrine the only one here?”

“Because the others are working on your room,” Benitoite explained.

Ametrine sat down with them on one of Benitoite’s couches. She was just a tiny bit shorter than Clark, maybe by an inch. She could’ve passed for a human, with her medium brown skin color. Her chin-length hair was mostly white, but had some purple and orange streaks on the side. Her crop top and miniskirt had a purple stripe on the left, orange stripe on the right, and white in the middle. She also wore thigh-high boots. Her crop top revealed three tiny, triangle-shaped Gems on her collar: the left one purple, the right one orange, and the center one white. One of her eyes was obscured by her hair, though he could tell she was glaring at Peridot with the other.

“Rub- I mean, Clark, next time you see a Gem trapped in something, _don’t_ let it escape,” she said. “There’s a _reason_ why they’re trapped.”

Peri sat across from her on a bureau, glaring at her. “Well it is considered polite _not_ to trap someone in a laptop for five thousand years, but we do not all get what we want, do we?”

“Unless you’ve forgotten, _you’re_ the threat here,” Ametrine said. “You’re the one who worked their whole life to make weapons to kill Gems who rebelled against Homeworld.”

“That was not personal.”

“Not the point!” Ametrine pointed out. “Clark, what made you think this was a good idea?”

Clark blushed. “I saw him stuck in that laptop, and I thought… Well, I dunno. I saw a Gem, and I thought I might help him out. And listen, Peri told me his side of the story, and I think he isn’t any danger to us.”

Ametrine sighed. “Clark, do you know why we’re fighting against Homeworld?”

“Because Homeworld wanted to destroy the Earth?”

“That,” Ametrine said, “and because we all have our reasons for wanting to escape Homeworld. On Homeworld, not all Gems are created equal. From the time we come out of the ground, we are expected to do one thing for the rest of our lives.”

Benitoite nodded. “Back on Homeworld, I was a blacksmith. I created weapons and other technology, and what I really wanted to do was invent stuff. But it didn’t matter on Homeworld; my job was to build things, not invent them. I rebelled because I wanted to do what I wanted, not what _they_ wanted.”

“Which is why I think… _maybe_ , we can give Peri a chance,” Ametrine finished. “Any funny business, and you’re going right back in that laptop.”

“My _name_ is _Peridot 5_ ,” Peri insisted. “And thank you.”

Ametrine smiled. “Listen, Peri, I just wanna know: why did you come here? To Earth? You don’t have to be specific.”

Peri sighed. “Back on Homeworld, I used to think things were fine for me. And things started getting good, when Yellow Diamond put me in a high position. At that point, I didn’t even have a manager anymore. But… Something happened. Something that just… made me realize what was wrong with Homeworld. And after what happened… I did not want to go back. No matter what position I was in. I do not _ever_ want to go back there.”

“We won’t make you go back,” Ametrine promised. “Especially since there’s no working Gem Warps on the planet that can take you there anymore.”

“Perfect,” Peri said.

“But are you really just gonna go wherever you want?” Ametrine asked. “You said you didn’t wanna be with us, right?”

“After trapping me in a laptop?” Peri asked. “No, definitely not.”

“We promise we won’t do it again,” Benitoite said. “But, really, where _are_ you planning on going?”

“I am not sure,” Peri said, now starting to frown. “I just… do not know. I did not have anything planned, to be honest. Perhaps I can wander around by myself…”

“No way!” Clark protested. “I don’t want you going around by yourself!”

Peri scoffed. “Do you think I _want_ to? But I do not have anywhere to go.”

Clark smiled. “When I first came to Earth, two humans took me in and raised me like a son. And I think now, I’m gonna do the same for you.”

Peri just stared at him. “What is a _‘son’_?”

“Not the point,” Clark said, putting an arm around him. “Listen, the other Gem Legionnaires are trying to build me a bedroom, and when it’s all done, you can come and live with me!”

“A _bedroom_?” Peri asked.

“A room where I’m gonna live,” Clark explained. “It’s where I spend my free time.”

“You mean, like a cubicle?” Peri asked.

“I guess,” Clark said. “You can stay there, as long as you’d like! You don’t have to stay there forever! And you can spend your time there with me!”

Peri looked up at him suspiciously. “With _you_?” He smiled a bit. “A Peridot, friends with a Ruby. What would they think, back on Homeworld…?”

Clark smiled weakly. “Uh, I know I’m a Ruby, but can you just call me Clark? I was raised by humans, and they gave me a human name, so…”

Peri frowned. “If you call me _Peri_ , then I will call you whatever I please, _Ruby._ ”

Clark just smiled. “If it’ll make you feel better.”

Peri rolled his eyes. “My feelings have nothing to do with it.”

“Sure,” Clark said, ruffling his hair, which Peri flinched at. “So, what do you think? Of living in the Legion Headquarters with me?”

Peri frowned again. “Do I have to become a Gem Legionnaire, like you?”

“Not unless you want to,” Benitoite said.

Peri scowled.

“Okay, no. That’s fine, too.”

“Thank you. I will think about it.”

“So, what do you wanna do right now, Peri?” Clark asked. “You’ve been trapped in a laptop for five thousand years, wanna go to the beach?”

“What’s a _beach_?”

* * *

As Clark carried Peri over his shoulders (he said he didn’t like the sand), Clark had to smile as Peri looked around at everything with curiosity.

“Have you been to Earth before?” Clark asked. “I mean, before the time you escaped Homeworld.”

“Never,” Peri explained. “Peridots worked on Homeworld to plan out the Kindergartens. There were a few that went to work directly on the Kindergartens, though. You, as a Ruby soldier, were most likely made on a Kindergarten, possibly on Earth or another dwarf planet, or even an asteroid. Judging from your gem shape, size, and luster, you must either be late Era 1 or early Era 2. It is hard to tell.”

“I was made on an asteroid,” Clark said.

“Well, judging from your size and strength, you must have been very carefully crafted,” Peri stated. “You build is impressive.”

Clark blushed. “Uh, wow! T-Thanks!”

Peri smiled. “Well, I am only stating facts.”

“Thanks, though,” Clark said. “Living with humans as a Gem hasn’t been easy on my self-esteem.”

“So, you really did live amongst the humans,” Peri said. “That explains your odd clothing. How did that happen?”

“It’s a long story,” Clark said, “but basically, I escaped the asteroid I was created on, landed on Earth, and was found by humans. And I’ve been living with them as long as I can remember. They’ve been the best parents to me, even though I’m so different.”

“ _Parents_?” Peri asked. “What do you mean?”

“Parents are the people who watch after you,” Clark explained.

“I think I had something like that back on Homeworld,” Peri said slowly. “Though they call those _managers_.”

“Parents make sure you’re feeling well, and love you, and make sure no harm comes to you,” Clark went on.

Peri frowned. “On second thought, _no_ , managers are _not_ like that.”

“It’s nice meeting other Gems though,” Clark continued. “To know there are people out there, like me… It’s nice to have friends like you. Do you miss your friends on Homeworld?”

“Friends? On Homeworld?” Peri asked. “I do not think I had any. Or have any currently. I was always too busy with my work to socialize with the other Peridots.” He smiled. “A Peridot and a Ruby conversing… completely unheard of on Homeworld.”

“But on Earth?” Clark asked. “Still weird, but not horrible, right?”

“I guess so,” Peri said. “At least, here on Earth.”

Clark bent over to grab a sand dollar. He stood up, and handed it over to Peri. “What’s Homeworld like? Anything like Earth?”

“Well, Homeworld does not have beaches,” Peri said, observing the seashell with interest. “And there are no humans, of course. And we do not have… _those_.”

He pointed up at the sky, and Clark looked up.

“You mean, clouds?” Clark asked.

“No,” Peri insisted. “Those small things in the sky, I mean. The ones that are moving.”

“Oh! Birds?” Clark asked, and Peri nodded. “Well, I’ve never been to Homeworld, but I think you’re gonna like living on Earth.”

“It feels odd being here,” Peri admitted. “Everything is so different, it is a little overwhelming. But the strange thing is… I think I like it.”

“And, you’re sure you don’t wanna be a Legionnaire?” Clark asked.

“I think not,” Peri said. “I think… I understand their reason for why they did that to me, and I forgive them, but I am not sure I am comfortable around them yet.”

“But, why are you comfortable around _me_?” Clark asked.

“You listened to me,” Peri said simply. “Which is already more than what the other Legionnaires have done for me.”

Clark smiled. “I like you, Peri. And I swear, it’s gonna be fun living with me in my room.”

Peri smiled, ruffling Clark’s hair. “I certainly hope so.”

* * *

 _“Whoa_ , you guys actually got it done?”

Clark looked up at the house, impressed. It was a two-level house with a slanted roof, and a nice, small fence surrounding it. The roof was beige, while the walls of the house were white. Clark and Alunite looked up at it, both of them impressed.

“Isn’t it neat?” Alunite said, tossing his hammer into the sand when it missed the toolbox. “We even painted it! And you doubted that we could do it in one day.”

Clark smiled. “I gotta admit, this is really cool!”

“And it’s all yours!” Pink Topaz said, smiling up at Clark.

“Ametrine and I picked out the colors,” Benitoite said, cleaning up the paint on his hands and arms. Beside him, Ametrine nodded.

“Isn’t it cute?” Ametrine asked. “It looks just like a regular human’s house! And you can move in at any time! Do you...? _Oh_!”

Ametrine was stopped mid-sentence by a one-armed hug from Clark, as he used his other arm to hug Benitoite. The two smiled, and hugged him back, enjoying how warm he was against the cold of the night.

“This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me,” Clark said, starting to tear up. “I-I mean, _wow_ , y-you guys really built me a whole room…”

“Well, you’re a Gem Legionnaire now,” Alunite said, patting Clark’s head.

“You’re one of us, Clark,” Pink Topaz said, and smiled when Clark turned to hug her and Alunite, too. The two Gems happily hugged him back. Behind him, Peridot smiled at Clark’s excitement.

“Let’s go inside,” Mahogany said, leading the way inside, as all of the other Gems followed. Peridot, however, stayed outside, standing on the tips of his toes.

But Clark couldn’t help but feel disappointed when he walked in.

Bare walls, bare wooden floor, except for the geode interior and warp pad attached to the back. It wasn’t even painted like the exterior. Not a bed in sight.

“O-Oh!” Clark said, pretending to be happy. “Well, um… It’s, uh… There’s plenty of room to decorate!”

“It’s empty,” Mahogany said bluntly.

“There’s no windows,” Howlite observed.

“Hey, we got a _door_ ,” Alunite said angrily. “We did our best!”

“Listen, the online How-To website isn’t the best for building houses,” Benitoite explained. “So we just kinda did the basics.”

“It’s fine,” Clark insisted. “I think tomorrow, I’ll try and finish the rest myself. I think I’m gonna try and get some sleep, though.”

“We’ll see you in the morning, Clark,” Benitoite said, yawning. “We’ve been working all day, so we’re gonna rest up a bit, too.” He, Alunite, Ametrine, and Pink Topaz walked through the headquarters door. Howlite and Mahogany Obsidian, however, walked towards the front door.

“What about you guys?” Clark asked. “Aren’t you gonna rest?”

“We take the night shift to check if there are any Gem monsters attacking the city,” Mahogany explained. “It’s fine, we do this every night. Come on, Howlite.” He walked out the front door, right past Peri, who stared at him, slightly uneasy. Howlite hovered after him, though paused at the doorway to stick her tongue out playfully at Peri. Once she turned her back to him, Peri stuck her tongue out at her in return. He smiled at Clark, though, once the two had left.

“Oh, this is _just_ like my cubicle back on Homeworld, but larger,” Peri said, poking his head inside. “This will surely make me feel at home.”

Clark rolled his eyes. “Well, I think I’m gonna try and decorate it a bit tomorrow, but yeah, welcome to your temporary room, Peri. And we’re gonna be temporary roommates.” He looked around, and sat down at a corner of the room. “I guess I can try and bring in my bed and stuff tomorrow morning. Wanna sleep? You know what sleeping is, right Peri?”

Peri rolled his eyes. “Yes, I _do_ know. And I suppose I have nothing better to do with my time… I guess I will try _sleeping_ too. But you do know that, as a Gem, we do not _need_ to sleep.”

“I’ve gotten used to it,” Clark admitted. “Comes with living with humans. All you gotta do is lie down somewhere comfortable, and close your eyes.” He lied down on the floor, and shut his eyes. He felt something on his chest, and opened his eyes again. He smiled when he saw Peri, laying down right next to him, his eyes also closed.

“I hope you do not mind,” Peri said nonchalantly. “Rubies are very warm; I find you are at an ideal temperature.”

Clark smiled. “Thanks. And it’s no problem.” He stroked Peri’s hair. “Good night, Peri. Sleep tight.”

“I will try,” Peri said faintly.

 **And a very happy birthday to my friend Cyclone-Rachel, who got me to write this fic in the first place. Love you, bitch.** ❤️️


	3. Parasite

When Clark awoke the next morning, Peridot was missing. He sighed. He should've known that he wasn't gonna stick around…

He walked outside, wondering what to do now. Though he quickly found a strange scene right outside of the Legion Headquarters.

Howlite was "playing" with Peridot on a rock, by teasing him with making her hand go right through his body, somehow. He tried to swipe at her, though his hand kept going through her body.

"Hey, guys," Clark said, running up. "Peri, I thought you left!"

"No, he said he couldn't sleep, so he went patrolling with me and Mahogany," Howlite explained. "We didn't find anything, though."

"How often do Gem monsters pop up?" Clark asked.

"Usually about once a week, we'll find one," Howlite explained. "But we haven't found anything, so I just started playing with him. Look at what I can do!" She stood there, right in front of Peri, who poked her arm, though his finger went right through her.

"She can turn intangible," Peri explained to a confused Clark. "It is as though she no longer has a physical form. She can switch from tangible to intangible at will. Which _irks_ me."

"It's cute!" Howlite insisted, messing with Peri's hair. "It's like watching a cat chase a red dot!"

Clark just laughed at their expressions. "You guys are cute. Why do I get the weird feeling that you two have known each other in the past?"

Howlite smiled, hugging Peri from behind and squishing her cheek into his. "Aw, we go _way_ back. Don't we, you cute little clod?" She kissed his cheek teasingly, and he shoved her away, looking grossed out.

"Well, no Gem monsters came up today," Howlite said, turning to Clark. "But Alunite, Pink Topaz, Ametrine, and Benitoite are out patrolling. So you can relax for today. How did you sleep last night?"

"I slept fine," Clark said, then turned to Peri. "Hey, since I got nothing going on, what do you wanna do?"

"I spent my free time on Homeworld tinkering with technology," Peri said. "I assume my limb enhancers are severely outdated, so I would like some scrap metal and Homeworld tools to make them better."

"Oh, I think I know where to get that stuff," Clark said. "Benitoite showed me around the inside of the temple, I can go get you some scrap metal, if you'd like."

Peri smiled at him. "Thank you, Ruby. I will be waiting here."

"I'll be here annoying him," Howlite said in a sing-song voice. "Mahogany will open the door for you."

Peri rolled his eyes. "Please hurry back."

"Got it," Clark nodded, and headed back inside, as Mahogany followed him in.

"So how do you open the door?" Clark asked. Mahogany held out the Gem on his hand, and the brown stone on the door glowed, leaving the door open for him.

"We'll try and install a Gem so that you can open the door too," Mahogany said. "But for now, you're gonna have to rely on us to open this door for you."

"Sure thing," Clark said stepping inside, and found himself in some kind of forest-like setting. Plenty of trees, low lighting, and plenty of grass. "Whose room is this?"

"Mine," Mahogany Obsidian said. "I like the outdoors. All you gotta do is ask for the door to the room to open, and it'll show up." He closed the door behind him, leaving Clark alone.

He sighed. "Uh, open up a door? Please?"

He was surprised to see a stone door pop out from seemingly nowhere right in front of him. When he reached out to touch it, the stone door split apart to show a room. Clark walked inside, though was surprised to find that it wasn't the same room as before.

The room was also circular, though the walls, floor, and ceiling were made up entirely of some sort of red crystal. A pool of lava was resting in the middle, lighting up the whole room. Though that was not the most significant aspect of the room.

Dozens of colorful bubbles floated around like balloons, most of them about the same size, though all in different pastel colors. Inside of every single one of them seemed to be Gems.

Not really Gems, but just the actual gem from their bodies. Gems of all different shapes, sizes, and colors.

Clark gasped. "What are these?"

He walked around, staring up at the colorful bubbles in mixed amazement, awe, curiosity, and fear. What are these Gems doing in those bubbles?

As he walked backwards, he accidentally bumped into something squishy. He turned to find a small, orange Gem inside of a small orange bubble. For some reason, it was totally separated from the other Gems in the room. It sat lower than the other Gems; it was hovering at around his chest area, while the others were higher towards the ceiling, away from his reach.

He grabbed the bubble, his fingertips as light as a feather on the surface. "Why are you so far away from the others?"

Could these be more prisoners? Maybe he could ask…

" _No_ ," Clark said to himself, "You got lucky when it turned out Peri was a good guy. This Gem might not be a good guy." He was about to let the bubble go, but… "...But why are you away from the others?"

Curiosity was starting to take over his common sense. Even if it was an evil Gem, he could handle himself, right?

He squeezed the bubble, and it popped, the Gem dropping to the ground.

Just as he expected, the Gem hovered in the air, and he could see a humanoid body start to form: a thin body, just a bit shorter than Peridot 5, though he could tell their body was more feminine.

And then the body started to _change_.

Clark watched in horror as the body expanded to form something spherical, with a sort of wavy, sunhat-like brim at the bottom, and large tentacles sprouting from the bottom. Strangely enough, he could still see the thin human-like legs poking out. When the glow died down, he saw that the Gem was pale orange, with the sunhat-like fringe a lighter shade and slightly transparent. The tips of the tentacles and the 'human" legs were also slightly transparent. He could see the square Gem on the ends of one of the tentacles.

" _Brrr-rrr-rrr!"_

Clark winced at the sound it made. It almost sounded like laughter, though it thoroughly creeped him out.

"You're… Are you a Gem monster?" Clark asked.

Of course it didn't reply; instead, it just hovered there. It seemed almost nervous, somehow. Clark stepped forward, though it didn't move.

"You must be a Gem monster," Clark said softly, stepping slowly forward, reaching a hand out. "You don't look like a monster, you're just like a big jellyfish… Don't be scared, little guy…"

He winced as the monster jumped back a bit, though he continued walking towards it, his arm still extended… and he slowly made contact. The monster was soft and squishy, and simply hovered there as Clark pet it.

"There you go," Clark said, smiling gently. He wondered if the monster could see or hear him; it didn't seem to have a face or ears. "Aw, you're not so bad."

The monster leaned towards him a bit, as if it enjoyed the petting. It wrapped a tentacle around his wrist.

"There has to be some mistake," Clark said quietly. "You're no monster. Come on, we're going back outside and tell everyone that this was just some dumb mistake. Come on, follow me." He started walking towards the door, and the monster hovered right behind him, one tentacle still wrapped around his wrist. Clark felt like he was holding a balloon.

* * *

"Clark! I asked for metal! Where is it?"

Clark smiled. "O-Oh! Yeah, I forgot!"

Peri rolled his eyes. "I gave you one simple task, Ruby. What made you forget?"

"Well, something big came up," Clark said nervously.

"What happened?" Howlite asked, looking up after playing with Peri's hair.

"Well, I went into one of the rooms in the temple, and found… _this_." He stepped away, and revealed the monster.

"Clark!" Howlite said, jumping up and pulling out her scythe from behind her. "Clark, get away, _that's_ a Gem monster!"

Clark stepped in front of a now-trembling monster again, his shield in front of him. "No! Don't hurt Nebby!"

Howlite paused. "Nebby?"

"That's what I named her," Clark said shyly, lowering his shield a bit. "Howlite, I think there's been some kind of mistake. Nebby's no monster."

"Clark, I'm sorry we haven't had time to explain what Gem monsters are," Howlite said. "But all you need to know is that you need to put that thing back in its bubble with the rest of the Gem monsters in the bubble room."

Behind her, Peri watched, wide-eyed. "You… _harvest Gems_?"

"No!" Howlite said, then calmed down. "You guys, Gem monsters are always attacking, and we keep them in bubbles so that they're not a danger to themselves or the people of Earth."

"But where do Gem monsters come from?" Clark asked.

Howlite frowned at Peri. "I think this _clod_ can tell you."

"Oh, please, I did not invent that," Peri sneered. "And I honestly have no idea what you are talking about. I have never seen such a thing in my entire life."

"Really?" Howlite said. "These started showing up around the time you became lead weapon designer…"

"Well, it must have been _after_ you trapped me in a computer for five thousand years," Peri said grumpily. "Either that, or I was not ranked high enough to know of such an invention. So you _cannot_ blame this on me."

"Either way, Clark, you need to poof that thing and put it back," Howlite said. "It doesn't belong here."

"But… But look!" Clark said, raising the hand with the tentacle wrapped around it. "Nebby is friendly! Maybe Gem monsters can be tamed? Like dogs?"

Howlite stared at Clark, then looked over at Nebby. She sighed. "Clark…"

"Please?" Clark said. "Just give me 24 hours to prove that I can tame Nebby, okay? And if she can't be tamed… I'll put her back. But please, at least give me a chance."

Howlite sighed again. "Clark, she's gonna be _your_ responsibility, okay?"

Clark smiled widely. "Thanks, Howlite! I won't let you down, I promise!" He turned to Nebby. "Say, Nebby, you're probably hungry, aren't you? Come on, I'll go get you some fries or something…" He walked off, as Nebby followed close behind, her tentacle still on his wrist.

"I saw that."

Howlite and Peri turned to see Mahogany walking up. "You heard all that?"

Mahogany nodded. "Listen, I appreciate his efforts to try and tame them… but they're all just mindless, violent monsters. He's not gonna tame it."

Howlite sighed. "I know."

Mahogany's eyebrows furrowed. "And you know Alunite is not gonna like this."

Howlite smiled sadly. "Who knows? Maybe he'll like the idea."

"No, he won't."

"I know."

Peri butted in. "Can you two _please_ explain what is happening?"

* * *

"Wow, Clark, you look _terrible_."

Clark sighed. "Yeah, Nebby is kinda heavy, and I gotta pull her around." He smiled as he held up a brown paper bag. "But I got fries."

"Share!" Howlite said, reaching for the bag, but Clark blocked her hand with his free arm.

"No!" Clark said. "No, I want Nebby to have a taste first." He smiled at her. "Come on, Nebby, you want a snack?"

With his tentacle-free hand, he grabbed some fries and held them out to Nebby. "Come on, girl, don't be shy. They're kinda hot, but they're pretty good."

Clark held out a handful of french fries at Nebby, and she started to cautiously poke at them with one tentacle.

Howlite grabbed the bag and started eating. "Clark, there's no shame in giving up."

"Shush up," Clark said, smiling as Nebby grabbed a handful of french fries, and brought them to what Clark guessed was her mouth, on the bottom of her 'head'. She pushed the French fries inside… and he could faintly see the still-intact fries inside of her 'head.'

"Does that count?" Clark asked. "I think she likes them!"

Howlite rolled her eyes, as Mahogany stole the bag and started eating as well. "I guess. Congrats, Clark, you got her to eat."

"I think I'm gonna sit down for a bit," Clark said, sitting on the floor, as Nebby wrapped another tentacle around his other wrist. "Dragging Nebby around is pretty hard."

Howlite shrugged. "She's _your_ pet, she's _your_ responsibility."

" _Howlite_ ," Mahogany warned. "Don't call her a pet. I don't think the others are gonna be happy to hear that."

"They won't be back for at least a few hours," Howlite said.

"Maybe we should just tell him the truth," Mahogany said quietly, as Clark started feeding Nebby more french fries.

"And have the others yell at us?" Howlite said. "We'll wait for them to come back, and they can decide on whether we should tell him or not."

"Aw, look at Nebby!" Clark said, smiling as Nebby started rubbing her 'head' against his cheek. "She's cuddling with me."

Howlite and Mahogany could only stare.

Clark smiled. "I told you she could be tamed."

Mahogany sighed. "I just hope the others understand."

"You guys don't mind if I take Nebby out for a walk on the beach, right?" Clark asked, standing back up. "I want her to see the beach. She'd like the beach, right? She's like a jellyfish. Jellyfish like water."

"If you say so," Howlite said. "We'll just be here, eating the rest of your food."

"Thanks, see you guys later!"

* * *

"You know Pink and Alunite aren't gonna agree to this."

"I know," Howlite said. "But Clark really wants to tame… _Nebby_. I don't see any harm in letting him play with her for a bit."

"You know how the others are gonna react. They won't like it, even if nobody is getting hurt."

Howlite pouted. "Listen, Clark has lived with humans his whole life, he doesn't know anything about how Gems work. I think the others are gonna take that into consideration."

"But Clark is no child, even by human standards," Mahogany countered. "He deserves to hear the truth. Even if the truth might scare him."

"How do you expect us to explain to him that Gem monsters are really-?" Howlite started, but at that moment, Clark walked into his room. Now Nebby had one tentacle around each of his wrists, one around his neck, one on his waist, and one around his forehead.

"She's been getting pretty friendly with you, hasn't she?" Mahogany asked.

Clark smiled weakly. "She's so _heavy_. But it's fine, as long as she's behaving, and not hurting anyone, it's fine. She and I just got back from a walk around the beach, and she was just fine out there. Listen, do you know when the others are coming back?"

"Probably not until sundown," Howlite said. "You wanna wait for them here, to show them Nebby?"

"I think so," Clark said, sitting down on the floor, Nebby still attached to his back. "Nebby's been an angel, but she's really wiped me out. I think I'm gonna take a nap here. Where's Peri?"

"He's outside, tinkering with his limb enhancers," Mahogany stated. "Listen, Howlite and I are gonna see if we can maybe find the other Legionnaires. We really need to talk about… Nebby. We're gonna have Peri watch over you, okay?"

"Alright," Clark said, leaning gently against Nebby, who didn't seem to mind. "I'll just be here, napping with Nebby. Wake me when the others get here, okay?" He closed his eyes, starting to drift off as Nebby stroked his head with one of her tentacles.

* * *

When Clark woke up, it was as if his body was numb. No, it was as if something was pressing onto him. He didn't know. He couldn't tell if he could move his body or not; everything was so numb it was hard to tell if his attempts to move were actually working. In fact, he didn't know what was happening. It was dark out. Where was everybody?

He tried to move his arms. He couldn't. Nebby was still grabbing him. Was she hurt, too?

"Nebby?" Clark tried to say, but his voice was so weak. His eyelids were so heavy. His legs seemed to weigh about a thousand pounds. It was as if his arms didn't exist. What was going on?

He turned his head, but his neck was so stiff, that he had to make an enormous effort. He was still resting against Nebby, but now he could see Nebby was glowing. Something like electricity seemed to be pulsing through her tentacles, which were still wrapped around him. Her 'head' was glowing bright white. It started to look a bit like a bell.

"Nebby?" Clark croaked out. "Nebby, what are you doing?"

Nebby, of course, didn't respond. She simply grabbed him tighter, pulling him closer, and pulling his head to the under part of her 'bell'. Clark wondered if she was perhaps trying to eat him. Clark wanted to _scream_ , wanted to call for help, to tell Nebby to stop, but he was so _exhausted_. He'd never felt so physically exhausted in his life. She pushed his head inside of her 'bell', and his vision turned blurry and orange-tinted. He could see through the bell, somehow. Nebby's body started to glow brighter, and then the glowing tuned dull, then brighter again.

Clark's body felt strange. It was as if his entire body was dissolving away, but at the same time he felt warmth. When the glow started to fade again, everything felt terribly heavy. Nebby was making odd noises, it was almost like a distorted screaming. She wrapped her tentacles rightly around him. Clark was so numb at that point, he couldn't even feel the pain of it.

Clark was so tired, yet he could feel himself breathing heavily in panic. He looked around. There had to be someone nearby. Someone to explain to him what was going on. Someone to come and save him from Nebby. A terrible thought popped into his mind. Had Nebby eaten the others? Nobody was around, even though Howlite said they'd be back by nighttime.

Peri. He was supposed to look after him, where was he? Did Nebby eat him? Did Peri abandon him? No, he wouldn't, would he? His vision was starting to blur heavily. He thought it was from his eyes tearing up, but he realized he was losing consciousness. He was going to be eaten, by a Gem monster, and nobody was around to save him.

' _This is what I get for trying to be nice,'_ Clark thought bitterly. _'I try and make a monster into a pet, and I get eaten alive. Just my luck.'_

Just before blacking out, he heard a soft, almost angelic voice calling out to him.

" _Fuse with me_."

* * *

**A few minutes later...**

"Did you know she could do that, Alunite?"

"How would I have known?" Alunite said, picking up the Gem. "Ayla didn't do that kinda stuff when she was still stable."

"That was the freakiest thing I've ever seen a fusion do," Ametrine said, shaking a bit as her trident dissolved back into her Gems. "I didn't know you could fuse with a corrupted Gem monster."

"I'm not sure if you really can," Mahogany Obsidian said. "You saw Ayla trying to fuse with him. She couldn't go through with it all the way."

"I can't believe she was smart enough to make Clark tired so he wouldn't fight back," Benitoite said, observing Clark's face closely with a flashlight.

"She didn't just try and make him tired by having him carry her around," Howlite said slowly. "She was draining his energy the whole time. She's been holding on to him all day, she was using her powers to drain him the whole time."

"I don't think Ayla ever used that power when he was stable," Alunite said. He looked down at the bubbled Gem in his hands. "How's Clark?"

"Exhausted," Peri said, putting Clark's head on his lap. "He still hasn't woken up. But his Gem is fine, and there is no sign of corruption. It must not have been so bad, if he did not retreat into his Gem for injuries. His energy is almost totally drained, however. He will need rest. Most likely for a few Earth days." He brushed Clark's hair from his eyes. "You do not need to worry. I will watch over him as long as necessary."

Benitoite looked down at Clark with worry, and shared a pained look with Ametrine. "I don't think it's his physical health that we should worry about."

At that moment, Clark started to stir. He opened his eyes slowly, and smiled up at Peridot. "Hey, you're okay!"

Peri chuckled softly. "It is not me that you should be worried about. You have just been through a painful experience. How do you feel?"

Clark smiled weakly… then frowned, as tears started leaking from his eyes. "I don't even _know_ what just happened. I was just so scared, and then Nebby-"

" _Ayla_."

Clark looked over at Alunite slowly. Alunite was still looking down sadly at the bubbled Gem in his hands.

"Ayla. An Alunite, Facet 4YL4, Cut 63." Alunite took a deep breath. "That Gem monster you were trying to tame… She's one of my best friends. I called her Ayla."

"You… used to be friends with Neb-Ayla?" Clark said slowly. "But why do you keep her in a bubble, now?"

"She wasn't always like this," Alunite explained quietly. "She used to be a regular Gem, like us. But… something happened a long time ago, and she ended up corrupted into a monster. All Gem monsters are just regular Gems that got corrupted. We gotta bubble them, to keep them safe from humans. And so the humans don't get hurt, either."

"How did that happen?" Clark said quietly, as Alunite made the bubble teleport away.

"We're not sure," Alunite said. "Clark, I'm so sorry for what Ayla did. She would never do that if she was her old self, believe me."

Clark nodded, though Peri still had to wipe away his tears. "But… What was she trying to do? I-I felt all numb, and Ne- I mean, Ayla, it was like she was trying to suffocate me. I felt all weak, and nobody was around, and I got so scared, I thought she hurt you guys…" He trailed off as Peri wiped away more tears.

"We think… We think she was trying to fuse with you," Pink Topaz said gently.

"Fuse?"

"Fusing is when two or more Gems merge together," Pink Topaz explained. "It's a little hard to explain, and you need rest, Clark. Peri, can we trust you to make sure Clark stays safe?"

"You can count on me," Peri said, and smiled down at Clark. "You are safe now, Ruby. I will help you as you recover your energy."

Clark sniffled. "Thanks, Peri. Does this kinda stuff usually happen?"

"No," Pink said, kneeling down to get a better look at Clark. "Gem monsters are not meant to be tamed. A few have tried in the past, but all attempts before were unsuccessful."

"But we've never seen a corrupted Gem try and fuse with someone before," Ametrine added.

"But why?" Clark asked. "When Ayla tried to fuse with me, I got so scared, and I felt all weak and I started blacking out… Why would she fuse with me?"

"Ayla used to love fusing," Alunite said sadly. "Gems fuse when they're harmonious with each other physically, or emotionally. I guess Ayla thought you were friendly, and…"

Clark sighed. "I think… I think I'm just wanna go home and rest."

"You are home, silly," Peri said, wiping another tear from Clark's face gently. "And there is no need to worry about any more Gem monsters, the others will not make you fight any until after you are fully rested." Peri smiled brightly. "I will stay with you as you recover. I will not leave your sight until you recover, okay?"

Clark smiled. "Thanks, Peri. But… I just want to rest."

Peri smiled, as the others headed towards the temple door. "I understand."

"No, you don't," Clark muttered. "I… I wanna go home. With my parents. I don't know if this was such a good idea, after all. Being here, with you guys. I need some time to think."


	4. Recovery

Clark was just a bit happy to wake up in his own bed at his family’s new home, instead of on the floor at the Gem Legion headquarters. Still, though, he frowned at the many unopened cardboard boxes of his stuff scattered around the room.

He heard a knock on his bedroom door. “Clark?”

“I’m awake,” Clark called out. “Still kinda tired, though.”

Mrs. Kent opened the door, and walked in. “Are you sure you don’t need anything? Are you hungry?”

“Not really,” Clark said, smiling kindly up at her. “But thanks for checking up on me.”

Mrs. Kent put her hand on Clark’s forehead. “You feel warm. As always. Are you sure you have a cold?”

Clark blushed. “It’s, uh… Well, it’s a Gem thing. Gems get sick sometimes too, you know?”

“Well, if you need anything,” Mrs. Kent said, “or if you want anything, all you have to do is ask.”

“Thanks, mom,” Clark said softly, smiling when his mother gently kisses his forehead and left his room. Still, he covered himself in his blanket, sighing. He missed his parents of course, but he still started to miss the Gems…

“ _ Ruby _ ?”

He could almost hear Peridot 5’s voice…

“Ruby, I would like to come in.”

No, that was the  _ real  _ Peridot’s voice. Coming from his bedroom window.

Clark looked up, and saw Peridot tapping at his window.

Clark got up immediately, despite his sore arms and legs protesting. “ _ Peri _ ?”

“Good morning, Ruby,” Peri said brightly, as Clark opened the window for him, and he crawled inside clumsily. “You have not been to the Headquarters in three days, so the others sent me here to check up on you.”

“How’d you find out where I live?” Clark asked, sitting down on the bed.

“I asked the humans,” Peri said simply.

‘ _ Peri interacting with humans _ ,’ Clark thought to himself.  _ ‘That would’ve been fun to see _ .’

“And how are you doing?” Peri asked. “Are you still in physical pain? Do you need me to do anything to help alleviate the pain?”

“Everything still kinda hurts,” Clark admitted. “But at least now, I can move. I’m a lot better now, but a few more days of rest, and I’ll be fine.”

“I brought you something,” Peri said, holding out a closed fist. “I know how much you like the Earth, so I brought you something I thought you would like!”

Clark held out his hand, and Peri dropped his gift into his hand. Clark looked down at his palm, and found a handful of rose petals.

Peri looked so proud of himself. “Ta-da! I found these  _ flowers _ growing near the Headquarters, and Howlite told me it would be an acceptable present for you. Do you understand the joke? Because the flower  _ grew  _ from the Earth!”

Clark started to smile. “Aww, you wanted to give me a present?”

“You are special to me, Ruby,” Peri said. “Howlite said that a rose represents something important in Earth culture, especially when one presents a rose to another.”

Clark started blushing and grinning, despite himself. “Oh, jeez.  _ Howlite  _ said that?”

Peri nodded. “And I thought you would like such a gesture. And, also…” He frowned a bit. “I thought you were starting to dislike us.”

Clark sighed. “No, this has nothing to do with you. It’s just…” He sighed. “I dunno.”

“How can you not know?” Peri said, leaning into him a bit. “Clark, you can be honest with me. I will listen to your problems.”

Clark hugged his knees to his chest. “It’s just that… When I heard there were Gems here, I got so happy because I thought I would feel like I finally fit in somewhere. But then, I join the Gem Legionnaires, and they’re so  _ different _ . Everything about them is so different from the things I know…”

“...and it begins to overwhelm you, and you are struggling to familiarize yourself to a new environment,” Peri finished for him, nodding in understanding.

“Yeah,” Clark said. “And then, Ayla just… freaked me out. I knew Gem stuff would be dangerous, but… what Ayla did was so scary. I just… I was so alone, and I didn’t know what was going on…”

Peri reached over and gently brushed the hair from Clark’s eyes. “You no longer need to worry about the corrupted Alunite. She is back in her bubble, where she belongs.” He sighed. “You are not still angry at us, are you?”

Clark looked up at that. “Angry at  _ you guys _ ? You guys should be the ones angry at  _ me _ !” He frowned. “Howlite was telling me to put her back, and I didn’t listen. And I put myself in danger, and could have put everyone  _ else  _ in danger.”

“You do not need to worry so much,” Peri said gently. “The Gems are worried about you. They fear that you will not return. They are also worried that they have hurt your feelings.”

Clark lied down on his bed. Peri lied down next to him. “I’m not mad at them. I’m not mad about anything. I’m just… scared. And really confused.”

“So am I,” Peri admitted. “I come from a planet where everything is so different, and at times it overwhelms me, but I try and accept it.” He looked over at Clark, and smiled. “That is why it is nice to have you nearby. You, too, are trying to adjust to a new environment. It is good to know that I am not alone.”

“Yeah,” Clark said, looking at him and smiling. “I’m glad I was right about you, though.  _ You’re  _ not gonna try and fuse with me, are you?”

Peri blushed, and turned away. “It amazes me how little you know of your own culture.”

Clark sat up again, leaning against the wall. “You know, the others didn’t really explain to me what fusion is. Could you explain it to me?”

Peri sat up too, blushing. “Oh, of course!” Clark watched as Peri’s Gem started to glow, and was surprised to see a hologram projected in the center of the room. The lime green hologram portrayed two small, child-sized Gems with poofy hair.

“All Gems are capable of fusion,” Peri explained. “On Homeworld, two or more Gems of the same type are made to move harmoniously in a sort of dance in order to fuse.”

The hologram Gems bowed to each other, twirled in unison, then suddenly fused together into one larger being, though stayed mostly the same in appearance.

“On Homeworld, Gems fused for combat,” Peri explained. “They are not each other, they are almost a new person; they share the same mind. When you fuse, you must have trust, and a stable fusion can only stay stable through trust in your partner Gem. Harmony is what keeps a fusion together, after all.”

“That sounds so different from what I experienced,” Clark muttered. “What does it feel like?”

“I do not know,” Peri admitted. “I was never meant to fuse as a Peridot.” He seemed to think over something. “However, I believe things may be different on Earth.”

“What do you mean?” Clark asked.

Peri shrugged. “Well, obviously, the Ametrine is a fusion of three Gems of different types. Such a fusion is unheard of on Homeworld. And they seem to be fused for no particular reason, which is  _ very  _ confusing.”

Clark thought this over for a bit. “Do you ever wanna fuse with someone?”

Peri blushed, and smiled shyly. “Now that is a very personal question, Ruby. Besides, I do not think any of the Legionnaires would  _ want  _ to fuse with me. I am not exactly  _ friendly  _ with them.”

Clark blushed. “Well, if you ever want to fuse with anyone, I think, if I had to fuse with someone, I would fuse with you.”

Peri’s whole face turned dark green at that. “Oh! That is… very flattering! T-Thank you, Ruby!”

“No problem,” Clark said, smiling.

“Ruby, I really do think you should come back to the Headquarters,” Peri said. “Or are your managers preventing you from leaving?”

“They’re called  _ parents _ , Peri,” Clark said. “And, no, I’ve just been resting, for the most part.” He looked nervous. “My parents don’t really know about the whole Gem Legion thing. If I tell them what happened, they might get scared.”

“Understood,” Peri said, nodding.

It was at that very moment that Mrs. Kent walked in. “Clark, I just made some breakfast, don’t you… Oh!” Her eyes immediately went towards the green stranger, her eyes going straight to the Gem on his forehead. “Well, hello there. Are you one of Clark’s friends?”

Clark tried his best not to panic. “Uh, yeah! Mom, this is one of my new friends. His name is Peri.”

Peri frowned at Clark. “My full title is Peridot, Facet AW06, Cut B5. I prefer to be called Peridot 5, thank you very much.”

Clark just smiled uneasily. “We just call him Peri.”

“It is nice to meet you,  _ mom _ ,” Peri said, bowing at Mrs. Kent.

Mrs. Kent just smiled kindly. “You must be one of those Gems who lives near the beach.”

Clark’s eyes widened. “Mom, how did you know about that?”

“Well, we did say we moved out here so you could make friends,” Mrs. Kent said gently. “And we decided to move somewhere where your father and I heard there were more people like you. You know,  _ Gems _ .”

“So, you knew there were Gems here the whole time?” Clark asked, as Peri retreated behind Clark, his hands folded in front of him on his chest, his eyes looking towards the ground. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Mrs. Kent smiled. “Well, we wanted to go meet them with you, but it looks like you found them all by yourself. Looks like you’ve made some good friends from them, already.”

“Yeah,” Clark said, smiling nervously. “I mean, I’m still trying to get used to them, since, you know, things are so different…”

“I’m just glad you’re making friends, sweetheart,” Mrs. Kent said, brushing Clark’s hair out of his eyes. “They’ve been nice to you, right?”

“Yeah!” Clark said, his smile growing bigger. “Mom, you won’t believe it! They made me a bedroom, and they want me to be part of their team, mom, there’s  _ so many _ of them, too! It’s so cool! I can’t wait to show you everything! But… I think you might be a little shocked, once you see where they live.”

Mrs. Kent just laughed. “Well, I bet it’s great, if you’re so happy.” She turned to Peri, who was still looking at the floor. “Clark has been behaving himself, hasn’t he?”

Peri looked up, surprised that she was addressing him. “O-Oh!” He spoke softly. “Yes, your clarity, Ruby has been behaving well.”

Mrs. Kent smiled kindly. “You can just call me Mrs. Kent, Peridot.”

“Understood, Mrs. Kent,” Peri said, nodding. “I simply came to Ruby’s living quarters to ask him to return. The Gem Legionnaires are starting to worry about him. You see, something happened before he returned to you…”

Mrs. Kent looked up at her son, worried. “Oh, were they worried because you got sick?”

“W-Well,” Clark said, “Something… happened when I tried to help them with the monsters…”

Mrs. Kent’s eyes widened. “Monsters? Sweetheart, did you get  _ hurt _ ?”

Clark sighed; there was no use in lying. “Yeah, I tried to help them, but I didn’t really know what I was doing, and… I got hurt.”

“Clark, why didn’t you say anything?” Mrs. Kent said, looking him over for signs of an injury.

“I thought you’d freak out,” Clark muttered, starting to tear up. “And I didn’t want you to stop me from going back.”

“Oh, Clark,” Mrs. Kent said, hugging her son. “We wouldn’t stop you from going back to see your friends, just because you made a mistake. Or, did you  _ not  _ want to see them again?”

Clark sniffled. “Of course I wanna go see them. I just… I just don’t know if I fit in with them.”

“May I speak?” Peri asked softly.

“Of course, sweetie,” Mrs. Kent said, removing herself from her son.

“I would just like to say to Ruby that the others would like to see him again,” Peri said. “They would be  _ happy  _ to see you again, I am sure. They have been worried about you.”

Clark turned to Mrs. Kent. “Mom?”

Mrs. Kent sighed. “I don’t know, Clark…”

Peri spoke up again. “May I add, Mrs. Kent, that Ruby was not prepared when facing the monster in the past, and I believe that now that he has gained knowledge of the situation, he will not get hurt so easily.” He smiled. “And I promise to watch over him, too.”

Mrs. Kent looked up at her son. “Well, Clark, if you really want to go back with your friends, I won’t stop you.”

Clark hugged her gently. “Thanks, mom.”

Peri smiled. “Managers are so different on Earth. I think I like them much better here.”

“They’re  _ parents _ , Peri,” Clark said, smiling. He hugged him briefly, before sitting back down on his bed. “Tell the Legionnaires I’ll come over tomorrow. I think one more day of rest, and I’ll be fine. And thanks for coming over to check up on me.”

Peri bowed to the two of them. “It was a pleasure seeing you again, Ruby. I will be waiting back in our room. Farewell.” He turned towards the open window and crawled out.

“He’s a little weird,” Mrs. Kent said, smiling. “But he must be a good friend if he came out all the way here to see you.”

Clark smiled. “Yeah, he is. All of them are great. Are you sure you’re okay with me going back?”

“Clark, as long as you’re happy, I’m happy,” Mrs. Kent said. “Now, you should head back to bed, if you’re still recovering. I’ll bring you some lunch later.”

Clark lied down on his bed, and quickly started feeling sleepy again. “Thanks, mom. I love you.”

* * *

 

**The next day…**

“Clark! You gorgeous clod, we missed you!”

Clark had to laugh as Howlite flew to him as fast as she could, her arms open to hug him, making him drop his duffel bag as he hugged her back.

“I missed you too,” Clark said, as Mahogany tried to hug him too, alongside Howlite.

“How are you feeling?” Alunite asked gently. “You feeling better?”

“Tons,” Clark said. “I’m sorry I just left like that. And for… the whole Ayla thing.”

“We’re sorry too,” Pink Topaz said. “We did not give you a proper warning for what you were going to experience.”

“So, can I move back in?” Clark said, as Howlite held up his duffel bag. “I brought some stuff with me this time.”

Howlite digged through the bag, and help up a few button-up shirts. “Why did you bring human clothes?”

“Because I like to wear clothes?”

“Our clothes are a physical manifestation of light that is naturally melded to our bodies,” Pink Topaz explained.

Clark just stared.

“It means we can just make our own clothes with our minds,” Howlite said bluntly. “See?” Her body suit glowed for a brief moment, and suddenly shifted into a black-and-white version of his button-up shirt and jeans. “You don’t  _ need _ to wear human clothes.”

Clark blushed. “I know, but not wearing human clothes makes me feel… naked.”

“That sounds like fun,” Howlite said teasingly.

“I’d like to stay here for this reunion longer,” Mahogany said, “but I need to go take care of a Gem monster on Mask Island.”

Clark stepped up. “I’m coming with you.”

It took a few seconds for this to register into the other’s minds. When it did, they instantly voiced their opinions.

“Hell no.”

“That is not wise.”

“Clark, maybe you shouldn’t…”

“After what happened with Ayla?”

“Ruby, I am concerned…”

“I mean it, you guys,” Clark said firmly. “I wanna be a part of this team, and I wanna prove myself to you. And I need to prove to myself that I can handle this. I wanna go fight that Gem monster, and bring it back to you.”

“Clark, you have just been through a bad experience with a Gem monster,” Pink Topaz said gently. “It is okay if you do not want to participate yet.”

“No, I want to,” Clark insisted. “I’m gonna get that Gem monster all by myself.”

“That’s a terrible idea,” Mahogany said, “if you really want to get a Gem monster, you need someone to come with you. I’ll go, and you’ll join me.”

Again, there was another uproar from the others.

“Mahogany!”

“He can’t!”

“But that Gem monster is way too strong!”

“He’s a big guy,” Mahogany said, trying to soothe the others. “Besides, if anything happens to him, I’ll protect his Gem, and come back to the Headquarters immediately.”

“Nothing will happen to me,” Clark insisted. “I’m strong, really! And I have a shield! I promise I’ll do my best!”

“I know you will,” Mahogany said. “Come on, let’s go before one of the others tries locking you in your room.” He lead Clark back inside of his room, and stood on the Warp Pad in the center.

“So, where did you say we were going?” Clark asked.

“Mask Island,” Mahogany said. “There’s been a Gem monster out there that’s been running away before we can finish it off. You fast?”

Clark thought about it. “Well, I’ve never really tested out how fast I run, but I think I’m pretty fast.” Clark blushed. “So, uh, is this Gem monster gonna be like Ayla?”

Mahogany shook his head. “Gem monsters come in all different shapes and sizes, and all of them have different powers. You don’t have to worry about any of them being like Ayla. You know better now, than to try and befriend one.”

Clark smiled uneasily. “Right. So, is it really that dangerous?”

“We’ve been fighting Gem monsters for years,” Mahogany explained. “It’s a little dangerous, but that’s mostly because we need to make sure the humans and their homes stay safe. We’ve never lost a Gem because of a Gem monster before.”

Clark looked down uneasily.

Mahogany looked at him, and put a hand on his shoulder awkwardly. “You’ll be fine. It’s nothing, we just poof the monster back in its Gem, and come right back home. It’ll be over in no time.”

Clark nodded, then gasped as the Warp Pad activated again, putting them into some sort of light blue, magical tunnel, floating there for a bit before landing in a totally different location.

Clark saw a grassy, forest-like area, with plenty of trees, grass, bushes, and even vines. Through the trees, he could faintly see a white beach, with small geode rocks poking out from the sand.

“Whoa, this is cool,” Clark said, looking around.

Mahogany smiled. “Sometimes I come here for some peace and quiet.”

“Guess it’s probably not so peaceful anymore,” Clark said, “with the Gem monster here, huh?”

“There’s something weird about this Gem monster,” Mahogany said, walking towards the beach, as Clark followed. “The monster is invisible. Well, most of it is. You can still see its Gem.”

“How are we gonna get it?” Clark asked. “Do we split up?”

“Absolutely not,” Mahogany said, as they looked out into the ocean. “We are going to stick together. I have a plan. Do you shapeshift?”

Clark blushed. “Well, when I was younger, I used to shapeshift sometimes, but I don’t really do it much anymore, since it kinda tires me out after a while.”

“That’s fine,” Mahogany said. “I was thinking I can chase the monster into a corner, where you can hide and finish it off with that shield of yours.”

“Oh,” Clark said, “I mean, I don’t really know how to use my shield like that, but…”

“You’re gonna do fine,” Mahogany insisted. “Now, I have a weapon that I can summon, but I prefer to use a more hands-on approach.”

“What do you mean?” Clark asked.

Mahogany smiled. “I’ll show you.”

Mahogany’s body glowed orange, and Clark watched, amazed, as his body quickly shifted into a new, larger shape. When the glow died down, Mahogany had turned himself into a giant werewolf-like beast, with the fur on his forearms and legs matching the brown of his gloves and boots. The long hair on his head and back matched his long, black-and-white mane he had in his humanoid form.

“Wow,” Clark said. “And you’re gonna hunt the monster down?”

“Yes,” Mahogany said. “Follow me, I’ll tell you where you can go hide, and wait for me to get the monster into the area.” Mahogany walked away, and Clark followed him closely as Mahogany moved his way effortlessly through the forest. 

“So,” Clark said, “Ametrine told me you all rebelled for a reason.”

“Yes,” Mahogany said bluntly.

Clark smiled shyly. “Can I ask why you joined the Rebellion? What made you wanna leave Homeworld?”

Mahogany sighed. “Maybe one day, we’ll get to explaining all that stuff to you. But right now, that’s personal.”

Clark blushed. “Oh! Oh, sorry if I made you uncomfortable, you don’t have to tell me.”

“It’s fine,” Mahogany said shortly. “I know you’re just curious. Maybe one day, I’ll tell you the full story. Believe me, it’s quite a long story…”

Soon, they found themselves in a dead end, in front of a giant geode on the side of a hill, right next to a waterfall.

“Where should I wait?” Clark asked.

“On top of the geode,” Mahogany said. “Hide there, and I’ll go looking for the Gem monster, and chase it down.”

“Okay,” Clark said, climbing up and resting on the top. “How long are you gonna be out?”

Suddenly, they heard a distant roar.

“Something tells me not long,” Mahogany said. He turned to go. “I’m gonna go chase it down before we lost it. Get your weapon out, and be prepared, I’ll get it here as fast as possible.” He ran off, as the monster let out another roar.

Clark started feeling nervous. This was happening so fast. The monster would be here at any moment. As he pulled his shield from his Gem, he started to worry. What was he supposed to do? Throw the shield?

He didn’t have much time to think, as he heard the footsteps coming closer. Suddenly, something burst through the bushes, though Clark could not see its form, only the blue Gem underneath it. Mahogany, still in his werewolf form, chased after it.

The monster started backing up (or approaching? Clark couldn’t tell) towards the geode interior, as Mahogany roared and snarled at it. Clark gasped. ‘ _ Now what _ ?’

“Clark,” Mahogany yelled, “attack it now!”

“How?” Clark asked, feeling like he was going to throw up from nerves.

“Any way you can!” Mahogany yelled, as he slowly approached the monster, the Gem inching backwards again.

Clark threw his shield as hard as he could, aiming towards the Gem.

He was pretty sure he hit it, the way it seemingly bounced off of the Gem, though he heard the cry of pain, and Mahogany backed up a bit, as the shield slid down and fell to the ground, then dissolved on its own.

“That was good!” Mahogany said, shifting back into his regular form and taking out his clawed weapon. “Hit it again! Use your powers until it gets weak!”

Clark jumped down, though the monster was too quick for him; it slammed into him so hard, that the impact cracked the walls of the interior of the geode. He fell to the floor, groaning.

“Clark!” Mahogany tried to hit the creature, though the monster fought back, slamming against Mahogany, though Mahogany quickly got back up. He fought back, as Clark slowly got back up.

“Oh, man, now what?” Clark said to himself, looking around for a solution… and saw the spiky geode interior, then saw the cracks he made on the wall. He looked back at Mahogany and the invisible Gem, who were still fighting inside of the geode.

“This is a bad idea,” Clark said nervously to himself, as he picked his shield up and pulled his arm back. “This is a very bad idea…”

He repeatedly slammed his shield against the wall of the geode, making shards of rock go everywhere, though if he did enough damage…

After a few seconds, Clark could see a few rocks starting to crumble down, and soon heard an ominous cracking sound.

Mahogany and the invisible Gem looked up at that sound, and saw the geode falling apart. Mahogany and Clark scrambled to get out of the way, as the invisible Gem monster was pushed further into the crumbling geode by Mahogany.

Clark could barely make out what was happening, with all the dust and dirt flying everywhere, though he could clearly hear the sounds of the Gem monster crying out in pain. He couldn’t help but wince a bit. Deep down, there was a scared and confused Gem…

When the cloud of debris died down, Clark started digging through, looking for the fallen Gem monster. He effortlessly moved the rocks out of the way, hoping he really had gotten it…

He sighed in relief when he found the blue Gem, totally still. He picked it up, and summoned a bubble around it. “I’m sorry. I got you now.” He smiled weakly. “Wow, Mahogany, I really did it! Sorry it got kinda, uh, messy near the end…” He kicked a stray rock away, as he headed in Mahogany’s direction.

Only to find that Mahogany was gone.

Clark gasped. “Oh, no. Mahogany? Where’d you do?”

No response.

Clark immediately went back to digging through the rocks. “Mahogany? If you can hear me, just scream!”

Again, no response.

“Oh, no, please be okay,” Clark muttered, as he started digging through faster. “Please be okay, please be okay…”

After moving one particularly large rock, he gasped, seeing the small brown-and-black Gem resting on the grass.

Clark threw the rock away, and picked up the Gem. “Oh, no, no,  _ no _ …”

Clark tried to think. He knew little about Gems, since he spent so little time with them, but he must’ve heard something about how to handle this… Mahogany was just fine, right? His Gem was whole, not a single scratch, but how was Mahogany Obsidian gonna return to him?

“Oh, no,” Clark muttered, starting to tear up. “Mahogany, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do. I know I can help you somehow, but I just can’t remember how…”

Standing up, he sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m gonna take you back to the temple, the others will know what to do.” He wiped the tears from his eyes with his free hand, then picked up the bubbled Gem. “Come on, we should go home.”

He walked back to the Warp Pad. He couldn’t believe that only a few minutes before, he’d been so happy.


	5. Chapter 5

**So I wanted to try something new with this chapter. I know that this is sort of an action fic, but the thing is, I’m not really good at writing action scenes. But I happen to like drawing, and since Archive of our Own lets us upload pictures into fics now, I thought I’d try out drawing action scenes instead of writing them. If you were wondering why this took _so long_ to come out, blame college. Don’t be an art student, kids.**

**This chapter is gonna feature illustrations of my own. I thought this would be fun, since I’m much more comfortable drawing than writing. I’m not sure how the drawings will look on the website, so I need your guys’ feedback on how it looks. If you like the change, please comment. If you rather I just stick to writing the action scenes, I can do that too. But this chapter is just going to be an experiment to see how this all works out. You can find the images on my Tumblr art blog.**

**To people reading this on Fanfiction and not Archive of our Own: Shit, sorry, I didn’t think this through. Again, these drawings will be on my Tumblr art blog, so I think for now, you can just read the version on AO3. If I do this again, I’ll try and think up a system later so that you readers don’t miss out on anything. My username on A03 is the same on here.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the change. If not, I am so sorry.**

When Clark warped back, Mahogany’s Gem in his hands, he saw the group standing there, looking over at the door, Ametrine standing in front of everyone with a paper in her hand, demonstrating a drawing.

“...and humans call them _doggy doors_ ,” Ametrine was explaining. “It’d be too much work making a whole new gem decoration on the door, but I don’t think Clark would mind _this_!”

“And how do you expect him to fit through something so small?” Benitoite asked.

“Shapeshifting, _duh,”_ Ametrine said. Spotting him, she smiled. “Hey, you’re back! Where’s…?” Her smile faded when she saw the Gem in his hand.

“I’m sorry,” Clark said softly, tears streaming down his face as he handed over Mahogany Obsidian’s gem to Pink Topaz. “I should’ve done more…”

Pink Topaz smiled kindly at him. “This was just an accident, Clark. Mahogany’s Gem is not damaged, he will return to us in time. He usually takes a few days to recover in his Gem, then he will come out, good as new.”

“Is he mad at me?” Clark asked nervously. “I really am sorry…”

“He’ll understand,” Pink Topaz said softly. “We’ll just leave his Gem in your room, if that’s okay with you. He’ll come back out when he’s ready. Now, relax, I can sense that you are very nervous.”

Clark wiped away his tears. “Y-Yeah, things have been a little crazy lately…”

“Listen, you got the Gem monster for us,” Ametrine said, smiling. “We’re so proud of you! That’s a huge accomplishment!”

Howlite hovered up to him. “Besides, Mahogany gets poofed into his Gem all the time.”

“And it’s almost always your fault,” Benitoite pointed out.

Howlite smiled prettily. “I have never denied that.”

As the group chuckled, Alunite just leaned against the wall of Clark’s room, frowning to himself.

“Listen, Clark, we were talking,” Ametrine explained, “while you were gone.”

“About what?” Clark said, as Alunite’s frown deepened.

“We were thinking,” Benitoite said slowly, “that we could help you get used to the idea of fusion, by having you fuse with one of us.”

Clark just stared. “You want me to fuse?”

“We fuse often in case of emergencies,” Pink Topaz explained. “A fusion Gem is much stronger than just one or two Gems. It is pretty essential to learn, but if you don’t want to…”

“No, I’d love to!” Clark said. “I mean, if fusion really is different than what happened with Ayla, then I wanna find out what it’s like.”

Benitoite smiled. “That’s great, Clark! Well?”

Clark blinked. “Well, what?”

Benitoite and the other laughed. “Well, who do you wanna fuse with?”

Clark just stared. “Oh! You guys… want me to pick one of you?”

The others nodded.

Clark blushed. “Oh, uh, wow! Um…” He slowly turned to look at Peri, who stood beside him.

Peri blushed too, and looked down. “Ruby, I… apologize. I do not think I am ready for fusion. It is still… I think I am still uncomfortable with the idea.”

Clark frowned. “Oh, uh, it’s fine, I understand. Maybe another time, right?”

Peri nodded. “Yes, perhaps another time, Ruby.”

" _I'll_ fuse with him."

The group looked over at Alunite, who started walking over. Benitoite looked confused. "You? Why you?"

Alunite frowned. "Because I haven't gotten any time to spend with the big guy. All of you guys got to hang out with him, now it's my turn."

Ametrine looked unsure. "I dunno. Clark's new here, maybe he should pick someone he's more familiar with..."

"What do you think, Clark?" Alunite asked. "I'll teach you all there is about fusion. And if we're lucky, we can even fuse together. What do you say?"

Clark smiled. " Of course! When do we start?"

"How about right now?" Alunite offered. "I've got nothing to do today. You guys gonna stick around and watch?"

"The rest of us are gonna go patrol for any more Gem monsters," Benitoite said.

"But I want to stay for a while," Pink Topaz said suddenly. "I will help Peri with his limb enhancers."

Peri rolled his eyes. "I do not need the help of an off-color..." He stopped talking when he saw Pink Topaz's glare. "I mean... I am perfectly capable of working by myself."

"I still want to help," Pink Topaz said. "Must be hard doing all that stuff by yourself."

Peri rolled his eyes. "If you insist. I will be working outside."

"We'll try fusing inside," Alunite said, as the others walked away. "Pink and I will demonstrate a typical fusion dance."

Clark blushed. "Do you need to know how to dance to fuse?"

"Yup," Alunite said, smirking. "Why? Never learned to dance?"

Clark shook his head, blushing in embarrassment.

"It's easy," Alunite assured him. "Besides, it's kind of mandatory to dance when you fuse. Course, you can fuse without dancing, but it's the easiest and fastest way to be harmonious with your fusion partner."

The two walked inside, Pink walking in with them, though Peri simply stood at the doorway, waiting patiently.

"Want us to fuse for the demonstration?" Pink asked.

"Nah," Alunite said, "we'll just dance for him to show him how it works. Watch closely, Clark."

Clark observed as Alunite and Pink Topaz started dancing a simple two-step dance, their hands intertwined. After a few seconds, Alunite grabbed Pink Topaz and twirled her, then dipped her. She came back up to give him a kiss on his cheek.

"Looks simple enough," Clark said, clapping shyly. "But, we don't need to kiss, do we?"

"Only if you want to, hot stuff," Alunite said, grinning. Clark blushed when Pink Topaz started to giggle.

"I'm not so sure I can dance with people watching me," Clark admitted, looking over at Pink Topaz and Peri, who peeked inside.

Pink Topaz nodded. "We'll stay outside, then." She walked towards the door, and playfully ruffled Peri's hair. "That means you too." Peri waved goodbye at Clark before closing the door and going back to his limb enhancers.

"Now, fusion's about putting trust into your partner," Alunite started. "If there's no trust, then a fusion just won't happen. Got it?"

"Got it," Clark repeated.

"Don't be nervous," Alunite said. "Fusion is actually pretty fun! Why do you think Ametrine is always fused?"

Clark shrugged. "I dunno. I've never seen a fusion before now. And I've definitely never fused with anyone before."

Alunite grinned. "Well, I hope your first time with me is fun." He laughed as Clark blushed again.

"Come on, let's try and dance like I did with Pink Topaz," Alunite said, walking over and holding Clark's hands in his own. "We'll be synchronized when our Gems start to glow. Ready?"

"I guess so," Clark said, as Aunite slowly started the two-step dance, and Clark tried copying Pink Topaz's dance.

"You're doing good," Alunite said, then smiled when the Gem on his eye glowed. "Look! Our Gems are glowing!"

Clark looked down at his shirt, and was surprised to see the Gem underneath glowing bright. "You're right! I'm actually doing it!"

Alunite grinned. "Now you're getting it!"

Clark felt a pleasant warmth going through his body. “What happens now?”

“Well, now, hopefully, we get to start…” Alunite said, but he feels Alunite pull him closer…

The effect is instantaneous. His entire body glows bright red, and suddenly they’re both encased in light, and Clark feels his physical form melt into nothing, there’s only his Gem, and he knows the same is happening to Alunite.

Except Clark feels himself hesitate. He knows it’s not the same as before, but horrible ideas get into his mind: What if they were stuck like this? What if their fusion came out wrong? Would they be able to turn back to normal? What if they somehow turned out like Ayla…?

As quickly as it started, the would-be fusion became undone, and Clark and Alunite were thrown back on the ground.

"Ugh," Alunite said, brushing his hair out of his eye. "That went well."

Clark started blushing again. "But I… Why didn’t it work?”

“I dunno,” Alunite said, sitting up. “It could be anything. Maybe you didn’t concentrate hard enough, or maybe you just didn’t want it enough.”

Clark looks down. “Sorry.”

Alunite sighs. “No, it’s not your fault. Listen, it’s fine, maybe we’ll try again tomorrow.”

A part of him wanted to argue, but Clark decided that he didn’t want to try that again, anytime soon. “Yeah, okay. I’m sorry. Again.”

“It’s fine,” Alunite said. “Maybe we should’ve gotten Pink to help you.” He sighed. “Well, we’ll just try again tomorrow with her; right now, I should be out patrolling.”

Clark didn’t even bother asking what he should be doing; he just watched Alunite leave the room in search of Gem monsters. Clark hasn’t feel so dejected since… well, since Mahogany was crushed by boulders. Somehow feeling even worse, he walked outside, hoping maybe the ocean breeze and setting sun would lighten his mood…

“Fusion not going well?”

Clark blushed. “Nope.”

“That’s too bad,”Howlite said, floating upside down as she looked at Clark. “Fusion’s a whole lot of fun!”

“That was supposed to be _fun_?” Clark asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever had less fun in my entire life.”

“Aw, that’s too bad,” Howlite said, slowly turning right-side up again. “Guess Alunite wasn’t right for you.”

“What do you mean?”

Howlite shrugged. “Well, sometimes Gems fuse easier with Gems they get along with. And you and Alunite… Well, you two probably wouldn’t make the best team. No offence. And you two haven’t gotten to know each other yet.”

“Who do you fuse best with?” Clark asked.

Howlite sighed. “Mahogany…”

Clark flinched. “I’m sorry. Again.”

“It’s not your fault,” Howlite assured him. “He’ll be back, I just miss him, is all. Still, though, if he was around, it’d be way easy to show you how fusion goes.”

“Guess I’m out of luck,” Clark said with a sigh.

“Yeah,” Howlite said, now twirling in the air slowly, still upside down. “I’m really sorry you had to see Mahogany get poofed. He’s a lot of fun. Most of the time. And his hair is nice and soft.”

Clark laughs. “Yeah, he seemed cool. Maybe a little shy, though.”

Howlite turned right-side up again, still hovering in the air to look at Clark’s face. “He was the last to join us before you came along. It was only about five hundred years ago.” She straightened herself proudly. “I was the one who found him and asked him to join. It’s kinda a long story.”

Clark smiled up at her. “And you two fuse a lot, right?”

“Yup!” she chirped. “We’re always together, so it’s really easy for us. Course, not as easy as it is for Ametrine, but still. Mahogany and I used to just start dancing with him just to pass time, and we just fused….” She gasped. “I think I get it now! I know why you can’t fuse!” She smiled and poked his forehead. “You’re a bad dancer!”

If it was anybody else, Clark would’ve been greatly insulted, but Howlite’s playful smile and touch make him feel like he’s with an old friend. Clark smiles back at her. “Oh, really?”

“Well, you’re in luck!” She stands in a heroic pose, still floating in the air. “You happen to be looking at one of the best dancers in Metropolis!”

Clark lets out a sarcastic laugh. “Oh, ha, ha.”

“Maybe you just need to let loose a bit,” Phantom Girl points out. “Come on, dance with me! I miss dancing with someone.”

Clark flinches, knowing who Howlite was talking about. “Yeah, but the thing is, I don’t really dance much…”

“See? You _do_ need lessons,” Howlite teased. “Come on, you don’t have to worry about looking dumb! Just have fun with me!”

She sets herself down on the ground, and she takes hold of Clark’s hands and, with surprising strength, she twirls him around with her, laughing. She twirls him slowly at first, though stops so they can two a simple two-step for a bit, though Howlite mixes it up a bit when she twirls him around (she’s in the lead).

“You’re good at this,” Clark muses as he stops spinning on the spot.

Howlite laughs. “You’re not so bad yourself!”

Finally, she decides to dip him, and keeps him still up with one hand in his, and the other on his lower back. Clark pictures how they must look; tiny thin Howlite, somehow keeping his much larger body up with just her grip.

Howlite laughs too, and leans closer, and pulls Clark closer to her, so now their foreheads are touching. Clark starts feeling pleasantly warm again as the two laugh, and he thinks it’s just because of how close their bodies are, but then he sees a bright light from his chest, but he’s in too good a mood to protest it.

And before he knows it, his mind goes blank.

And then it comes back again.

* * *

“Where’s Ruby?”

“Probably wandering around, thinking about how bad he is at fusion.”

Pink Topaz rolls her eyes at Alunite. “He tried, Alunite.”

“Not hard enough,” Alunite replies.

Peri rolled his eyes. “That did not answer my question. I wished for him to help me test out my invention, but he walked off before I could catch up to him.” He showed off his belt.

“Wow, a belt,” Alunite said, ruffling Peridot’s hair playfully. Peridot frowned. “They have those here on Earth, you know.”

Peri rolled his eyes. “Well, I believe mine is more impressive. It comes with an impenetrable shield. It activates when I touch the button on the side.”

“Is it really impenetrable?” Pink Topaz asked curiously.

Peridot blushed. “Well, I hope it is. I wished for the Ruby to help. But according to you, he is gone.”

“He’s upset because he can’t fuse with Alunite,” Pink Topaz informed him. “We tried to teach him to fuse, like we said, and-“

“He sucked at it,” Alunite finished.

_“YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?”_

The three turn at that booming voice, and the three Gems gasp at what… or rather, _who_ they see.

They gasp up at the Gem before them.

“Wh… Who are you?” Pink Topaz asked, gaping up at the _enormous_ Gem.

“Come on, take a wild guess!” the Gem said, twirling in place. The Gems below her gasped. Her hair twirled with her, and they got to see the round, red-and-brown Gem on his back- and the extra arm growing right below it.

“Wow,” was all Pink Topaz could say. “Howlite? Clark?”

“The one and only _Red Phantom Quartz_ is here!” With a great shout, fire burst from their mouth and into the air, making the Gems below them jump.

“Something tells me the Ruby has learned the concept of fusion,” Peridot muttered.

“Yeah,” Alunite said, still gaping up at the Gem.

Red Phantom stretched her two arms out, as the third folds back into her fiery hair. “Ah, it feels so good to be _me_!”

“We’re glad,” Pink laughed. “So, Clark, how does it feel?”

“… _big_ ,” the fusion admitted, her eyes wide. She suddenly looked very child-like. “This is _cool_. I feel so nice and warm.”

“We can tell,” Alunite muttered, looking at her flaming hair. “And, uh, I guess you two can unfuse now.”

 _“What_?” Red Phantom shrieked, her hair spitting out sparks. She calms herself. “Guys, Clark and Howlite just wanna be together, okay? Besides, this is Clark’s first time fusing, don’t you want him to maybe get used to this new feeling?”

“I mean, yeah,” Alunite said quickly, “but there’s really no reason for you to be fused right now. I mean, we’re not in any trouble.”

“Well, actually…”

Hearing that, Alunite sighed, and turned to see Ametrine standing behind him, but was surprised to see her head and shoulders covered in a thin layer of ice.

Ametrine, however, paid it no mind, instead smiling up at the enormous fusion. “Ooh, is that you, Clark?”

“It’s Red Phantom Quartz now,” the fusion said proudly, hands on her hips. “Clark and Howlite aren’t here right now.”

“Nice,” Ametrine said with an approving nod. She looked back at Alunite. “We got another Snowbeast on Mask Island.”

“So? _Step_ on it.”

“It’s way bigger than the others,” Ametrine said. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have come back like this.”

“Fine, I’ll do it,” Alunite grumbled.  “Get it over with…”

“I wanna go!” Red Phantom declared.

“Oh, of course!” Ametrine said. “Let’s let the fusion break in their new powers by going out and fighting a Gem monster! What do you guys think?”

Alunite sighed in relief. “Anything to not get frostbite.”

“Gems cannot get frostbite; we do not have skin,” Peridot pointed out.

“Alright, smart guy,” Alunite said, “you can go with her to get that monster.”

“No.”

“I’ll go with them,” Pink Topaz offered. “I want to see how she handles being out in the field for her first day. And Peri, you can come too.”

“Why?” Peri asked.

“Maybe you can test that shield out once we’re there,” Pink pointed out. “And also to support your friends?”

“Well, I see no harm in going,” Peri decided, but he hesitated when he saw Red Phantom smiling down at him. He noticed her fangs for the first time, glistening in the setting sun.

“Ready to go, short stack?” she boomed out, her voice echoing across the beach

Peri flinched at her voice.

Her gaze softened. She didn’t mean to scare him. She crouched down. “Hey, Peri-dork.”

Despite being a little scared of her, he still pouted. Red Phantom just laughed.

“Hey, don’t worry, I don’t bite,” Red Phantom said, and started stroking his hair with a large finger. “I promise I won’t let you get hurt by any scary monsters, okay?”

“O-Okay,” Peri says uncertainly.

Red Phantom gives him another toothy grin. “Come on, let’s go! Wanna ride on my shoulders?”

He looks over at her flaming, glowing hair. “No, thank you, I can walk.”

“Have it your way, ya clod.”

* * *

 

The group makes their way to Mask Island, and once again, Red Phantom makes their way on the sandy beaches, staring at the gems and geodes poking out of the sand.

Red Phantom sighs. This is where Mahogany got hurt. She suddenly regrets coming. She shakes her head to get rid of those thoughts. She has a job to do.

“How are we going to find that monster?” Pink asked.

“Follow the snow,” Red Phantom said, pointing over their heads and pointing out one of the distant hills, which was covered in a thin layer of snow. “So, the Snowbeast is another Gem monster?”

“They’re usually not so bad,” Pink said, as she started walking in the direction of the hill.  “They’re common all around, but I guess this one’s just stronger than the rest.”

“To be quite honest, I do not see the reason for me having to come with you two,” Peri admitted, though still tried to stay close. “I have no experience fighting. I am much more comfortable in a lab.”

“If you want to be a Legionnaire, you have to participate too,” Pink explained.

“Maybe I want to participate in other ways,” Peri pointed out. “I happen to be highly intelligent. I can invent useful items for the Legionnaires. Fighting is not my strong suit.”

“That’s a good point,” Pink Topaz reasoned. “Still, have you ever seen a corrupted Gem?”

“No,” Peridot admitted. “At least, until that one day…” He looked over awkwardly at Red Phantom, who kept on walking, her footsteps shaking the ground. She pretended she couldn’t hear them; her head was above the trees, and they struggled to even look up at her.

Red Phantom was just silently praying that she didn’t screw anything up. She screwed up _big time_ as Clark earlier today; and he was still in disbelief that the others took the accident with good grace, _again_. How long would they put up with his screw-ups? Howlite and Mahogany had told him he was surprisingly strong for a Ruby, whatever that meant. He hates disappointing anyone, but it just feels worse when people’s _lives_ are at stake…

“Something tells me it’s close by,” Pink Topaz said, as their path quickly went from grassy to snowy. Even the trees had a layer of snow on the trunks. As the sun finally set, revealing the starry sky above them, the area looked more like a Christmas scene instead of a tropical island.

Red Phantom stepped into the snow, and the other two saw the snow around her feet melt, showing the wet grass underneath.

“Red Phantom,” Pink shouted up at her, “do you see it from up there?”

Red Phantom’s gray eyes looked around, looking for anything moving… and found something inside one of those geode caves. “I found it!”

“Good job!” Pink said. “We need to think of a plan…”

“I got a plan,” Red Phantom said, suddenly full of adrenaline. “I can show off what I can do!”

“Red Phantom, _wait_!” Pink cried out, but Red Phantom flied up above the trees without a second thought, headed for that cave.

When she made her way, she saw her target; an enormous snowy owl, it seemed. But it was made of snow, her legs black as night, her eyes bright pink…. And a hexagon-shaped Gem on her head.

It squawked at her with an orange beak. Red Phantom grinned.

“This is gonna be _fun_!” Red Phantom exclaimed. “Time to see what I can _really_ do!”

She felt red-hot on her hands, and she raised them up, as they glowed bright yellow… and suddenly a bright ball of fire burst out, resting on her hand happily, burning bright and hot.

“Oh, this is gonna be _hot_ ,” Red Phantom said, grinning.

The creature tried to fly away, but Red Phantom grabbed it by the leg, with her burning hand. It cried out in pain.

“You’re not getting away that easy!” Red Phantom roared. She raised it up again, then threw it to the ground.

-

“We have to follow her!” Pink said, running over to the geode Red Phantom flew towards, jumping expertly over fallen trees and rocks and geodes, with Peri struggling to keep up.

“What is wrong?” Peri panted. “I thought you wanted her to stop the Gem monster?”

“Peri, do you know what happens when two Gems stay fused together for too long?” Pink asked him.

“No,” Peri admitted, and tripped over a geode. Pink heard him fall, and stopped to help him up again. “I do not have any experience with fusion.”

“When two Gems fuse, they risk getting lost within the fusion,” Pink explained. “They lose sight of themselves, and become unstable and violent. And that might happen with Red Phantom. Clark is not in the best place, mentally. This fusion might strain him.”

“How can we help?” Peri asked.

“We can either remind them of who they really are,” Pink said.

“Or?”

“We get them to retreat into their Gems.”

“That sounds impossible.”

“Well, we’d better stop them before they go too far,” Pink said. Holding his hand this time, she guided him towards Red Phantom.

They were stopped by a giant bird hitting the ground.

Snow splattered around them, sending several palm trees to the ground as their bark exploded. The two were barely sheltered from the splinters flying around by the layer of snow covering them.

The Snowbeast flipped back onto its feet, squawking in fear and flying away, making its way through the trees silently, like a ghost.

Just when the two Gems thought it was safe to come out, Red Phantom landed on the ground hard, sparks flying from her long hair, a sneer on her face. She was radiating heat; the snow melted around them, and soon the two smaller Gems found themselves damp and warm.

“You’re not getting away so easily!” she shouted after the monster, grinning to herself. With speed that belied her size, she ran off, following the trail of snow.

“You expect us to defeat that Gem in battle, if she goes too far?” Peri grumbled, as the two stood up.

“If we have to, yes,” Pink said confidently. “Hopefully it won’t come to that. I know how they’re both feeling, remember? I think I can get to their better nature.”

Meanwhile, Red Phantom caught the Snowbeast cornered by another geode cave.

Red Phantom suddenly breathed out another blast of fire at the creature. It scorched the grass around them, and lit several trees on fire, though the beast still stood, albeit severely burned. With a might roar, it suddenly shot out shards of sharp ice at Red Phantom.

She dodged them narrowly; two went into her hair, though only ended up going right through. She smirked, as the creature gave a terrified cry.

“Not so tough now, are you?” she teased. Her eyes glowed in the night. “You’re _mine_ now!”

Meanwhile, Pink Topaz and Peridot followed the scorched trail of grass, only for them to see the Snowbeast being thrown way out to the beach where they came from.

Pink Topaz paused, and sighed. “She’s not making this easy on us.”

“Perhaps I should have worn my limb enhancers,” Peri wheezed out, and once again, the two ran out towards the beach. Had the trees nearby not been on fire, they’d be in total darkness. The Snowbeast was thrown into the shallow water on the shore, though quickly got up. It shook itself, and the two Gems could see the burns on its wings.

“Where is Red Phantom?” Pink asked, as the two looked around.

A giant ball of fire hit the Snowbeast, knocking it back in the water.

Red Phantom stormed onto the beach, her flaming hair lighting up the shore, and the monster roared at her angrily.

“Red Phantom, we can help!” Pink shouted out.

“I don’t need it,” Red Phantom shouted back, and grinned. “I got this.”

Red Phantom’s third arm shot out as she raised both arms, and the three arms created an enormous fireball, lighting up the whole island. It glowed in her hands briefly, and with a scream she threw it down to the ground in front of her…. And nothing happened.

The two smaller Gems looked on in confusion, but then they saw its effects; a glowing red circle appeared at her feet, and they saw a strange fiery aura rising up.

Pink gasped when the auras started to take form. They were clawed arms, rising from the circle, and they saw they weren’t just arms; identical bodies, smaller than Red Phantom, but they could tell they were still tall. They seemed to be made of lava, as bits of them dripped to the ground and created small fires on the sand and grass.

Pink Topaz saw that they were copies of Red Phantom, the fiery “hair” shorter, but they still closely resembled her. The faces unnerved her; where her mouth and eyes were, were just empty crevices. There were five copies, staring at the Snowbeast.

Red Phantom raised one arm and pointed at the Snowbeast.

The copies ran towards the Snowbeast. It made a pitiful attempt to fly away, but the copies were too fast; they dug their lava claws into the Snowbeast’s body, and it caught fire. The Snowbeast flapped its wings, either to get the copies off, or to put the fires out, Pink couldn’t tell; all she knew was that it wasn’t working. The fire spread out even more, as the trees started burning, the smell of smoke starting to overwhelm her.

Finally, the Snowbeast retreated into its Gem. The melted sand turned into glass around the Gem, making the whole scene tragically pretty, as the copies burned themselves out.

Peridot looked around; he could hardly believe it was nighttime; the beach was so alight in fire.

Pink Topaz stepped over the shards of glass, and shouted up at Red Phantom Quartz, who still looked very proud of herself.  “What do you think you’re doing?!”

Red Phantom grinned at Pink. “Why, saving the day of course!”

“You’re going to burn the beach down,” Pink Topaz yelled over the flames. “You just put us all in danger!”

Red Phantom rolled her eyes. “What’s the big deal? I just wanna show off what I can do! Is that so bad?”

“It is when you end up destroying half of the beach!” Pink shouted up at her. “You two need to unfuse right now!”

“Maybe I don’t want to,” Red Phantom growled. “I like being like this!”

“I do not understand,” Peridot said, walking up to Pink’s side. “This fusion, it’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before. Gems in a fusion are supposed to obey all orders.”

“We’re not like Gems on Homeworld,” Pink replied.

“Damn right, we’re not!” Red Phantom roared.

Pink sighed. “Red Phantom, you two need to calm down, right now. That monster was defeated, and we need to get home now. Now, please, you two need to unfuse, right now.”

Red Phantom laughed. “And why do I wanna do that?

“Because if you don’t,” Pink said firmly, “I’m going to have to _force_ you out of the fusion.”

Red Phantom’s eyes narrowed. “Is that a threat?”

“It might be,” Pink said bravely. “You two are not getting off this island stuck like that.”

“Well, guess that’s just too bad, because- _Ah!_ ”

Pink Topaz’s eyes glowed pink as she stared up at the fusion. Red Phantom screamed, her hands wringing in her hair, as she heard the voice in her head.

_You have to separate immediately. You two have no idea what could happen if you lost yourselves. You’re going to hurt someone, or yourself. Unfuse. Right. **Now.**_

Her tone irritated her; the Howlite half of her started getting mad; how _dare_ Pink Topaz try and tell her what to do. She was _so_ in command, how _dare_ she think she’s out of control. She hated it; she hated being told what to do, like some little kid. Mahogany never bossed her around like this; not like-

“ ** _GET OUT OF MY MIND!_** ”

The scream shook the ground, and Pink Topaz let out a gasp as she was knocked back; Peridot caught her, though she stood back up again.

“Red Phantom, I mean it,” Pink said. “Unfuse!”

“You can’t tell me what to do, like some Pearl!”

She suddenly throws a fireball at the two, though Pink Topaz anticipated the attack, and pulled Peridot safely behind a rock jutting out of the ground.

Pink Topaz’s eyes glowed. “That was your last chance.”

“What are you gonna do, Tiny?” Red Phantom teased, smirking down at the little pink Gem. “Fight me?”

“Yes,” Pink Topaz said bravely.

“Pink Topaz, don’t!” Peri shouted, watching as she bravely leapt out, her hand reaching out to grab her weapon. “You cannot just leave me here by myself!”

Pink Topaz wasn’t listening; her focus was entirely on Red Phantom Quartz.

She leapt up on a tall rock, and Red Phantom still had that teasing smile, as she leaned over to look at her friend. “Aw, you look so cute when you’re mad.”

“Are you sure you wanna mess with me, Pipsqueak?” Red Howlite teased.

Pink Topaz stood her ground. “I am not afraid of you, Red Phantom.”

Peri, however, hid behind a few surviving rocks behind Pink Topaz. He’s never really seen a fusion fighting; but if Red Phantom really was as strong as she seemed, then he definitely didn’t want to get caught in the fight.

Red Phantom let out a laugh. “Believe me, short-stack, I can beat you with one hand tied behind my back!” For emphasis, her third hand retreated into her hair. “ _Literally_.”

Pink Topaz threw her chakram at Red Phantom, but she easily knocked it away with one hand.

“Was that really the best you could do?” she teased. “Guess it’s my turn, now.”

With amazing speed, her hand slapped away Pink Topaz, knocking her through the trees, and onto some rocks jutting out from the sand farther away.

Pink Topaz let out a shout as she crashed into the rocks. She couldn’t believe their power; her entire body hurt so bad, she thought her Gem must’ve cracked. Through some miracle, it was still intact.

She heard massive footsteps coming closer, and she knew now that she was much too strong.

“It’s too bad I’m still tired after chasing that dumb Snowbeast,” her voice said tauntingly through the trees. Her voice seemed loud in her ears, as if she was speaking directly beside her. “Otherwise I’d show you my _real_ power.”

Pink Topaz heard trees snapping, and she opened her eyes weakly.

“Aw, poor Pink Topaz, so cute and defenseless,” Red Phantom teased. “You were acting all high and mighty earlier. What’s the matter? Bit off more than you can chew?”

Pink Topaz glared at her.

“Guess it can’t be helped,” she said, shrugging her great shoulders prettily. “You thought we’d just do what you’d tell us?” All signs of amusement were gone from her face, suddenly. “Well, you know what? We’re sick of… I mean, _I’m_ sick and tired of everyone thinking I’m not as tough or smart as everyone else. Ever since I came here, you guys try and pretend you were all accepting of me, but I don’t have to have mind reading powers to know what you were all _really_ thinking of me.”

Pink Topaz listens to her in silence, wondering if it was Clark or Howlite speaking in there.

“Well, guess what?” Red Phantom says. “I’m gonna prove to you, here and now, that I’m just as good as the rest of you. Actually, you know what, we’re _twice_ as good!” She gives her another toothy grin. “But you don’t wanna just here me talk about how great I am. **_LET ME SHOW YOU!_** ”

The third hand behind her back pulls out Howlite’s scythe, and her right hand reaches for the Gem on her chest. She throws the two weapons into the air, and the two combine with a loud crash, and land back in her outstretched hand.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Red Phantom teased, relishing in Pink Topaz’s horrified face. “Now, _time for a little demonstration!_ ”

With a grunt, she swings it back and brings it crashing down on Pink Topaz.

“No!”

Peri watches on as Pink Topaz is split in half.

Pink Topaz doesn’t even have time to scream; she just retreats into her Gem, and drops down on the sand.

Red Phantom laughs. “What a show! I can’t believe I didn’t have an audience!”

A small gasp gets her attention. She looks over at the pile of rocks beside her. “I spoke too soon.”

Peri peeks out at her from the rocks. “You hurt her!”

“Yeah, wasn’t it impressive?” Red Phantom teased. “Sorry, but you’re not getting away easily either.” She swings her whirligig saw back again, prepared to strike him.

She hits him with the whirligig saw, but Peri isn’t knocked back. Her eyes widen when she sees him surrounded by a bubble. Its yellow, and has an odd honeycomb pattern on it.

“It works,” Peri breathed out.

Red Phantom’s eyes narrow. “Not for long!”

She strikes over and over again, and Peri can only stand there, eyes closed and his hands clenched, as if bracing himself for impact.

The two Gems gasp when they hear the shield shatter against another blow.

Peri’s eyes widen as he stares around himself; he presses a button on the belt, trying to activate it again, but it doesn’t show up again.

Red Phantom grinned. “Sorry, short stuff, guess you luck just ran out.”

Peridot doesn’t bother trying to dodge the attack; he only puts his hands up, hoping it doesn’t feel as bad as it looks.

That gesture makes Red Phantom’s head spin.

She stands there as memories flood her mind, memories that she can’t really make sense of. The memories come in fast, but they go as quickly as they come, and she can’t make any sense of it. She’s frozen on the spot, wondering whose memories they are.

 _What is this?_ Her memories start making her dizzy. _I don’t get it… Whose mind are these from?_

One memory seems to finally freeze in their mind. It’s an odd room, bright and yellow, but the fusion has no idea where it is. The walls are tall, and they’re facing a hallway. Is this Earth, or elsewhere?

But the memory’s focus is on Peridot. He’s wearing a strange outfit, one they’ve never seen him wearing before.

And he’s crying.

He’s so _scared_. He’s tearing up, staring up with wide eyes at someone above them. He looks totally paralyzed in fear, and Red Phantom wants nothing more than to reach out to this terrified Peri and hug him close, keep him away from danger, tell him that he won’t get hurt…

Wait…. But she’s doing something right now. Her weapon is still raised, and when she looks down at the rocks, Peri’s still standing there, ready to be attacked.

_“I promise I won’t let you get hurt by any scary monsters, okay?”_

That was what they told Peridot earlier that day. She broke that promise.

“Oh, no… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to… I don’t know what came over me…. Clark said… No, I mean, Howlite promised… I don’t know….”

Peri watches as the fusion becomes undone at last. He sees Clark and Howlite’s bodies fall to the sand.

He just stares at the two, laying on the ground. A pink glow brings his mind back to his fallen teammate.

Pink Topaz’s form quickly comes back, looking exactly the same as before, but scared. “No! Don’t hurt him!” She looks around shakily, and sees Peridot. She runs over. “Where did Red Phantom go?”

“Red Phantom is gone,” Peridot says, with a relieved sigh. He points out into the sand. “Look, they’re back.”

The two run over, and crouch down to look at the two Gems resting on the ground.

Howlite’s the first person to wake up. “Ugh.”

“How do you feel?” Pink asked.

“I feel like my entire body just _pooped_ ,” she muttered.

“Pleasant,” Pink Topaz mutters, but her expression softens. “Really, Howlite, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she says, and tries to sit up, but only falls back down. “On second thought, leave me here. I’ll be back in a few days.”

Clark wakes up next. “I am such a screw-up…”

“No, you are not,” Peri says simply. “A fusion going wrong cannot be just your fault. A fusion is like an entirely new Gem that acts as it alone wishes to.”

Clark sighs. “Thanks, I guess. But I still feel bad…”

“Hey, you two could make a good team, with some practice,” Pink Topaz commented. “Besides the whole _burning down half the beach_ situation.”

“Are you mad at me?” Clark asked.

“Us,” Howlite corrected.

“Of course not,” Pink Topaz said. “But we’re definitely not letting you two fuse together anytime soon.”

“I’m fine with that,” Clark muttered. “No offence, Howlite.”

“None taken,” Howlite said. She rolled over to be next to him. “Just let me sleep for a few days, and you can be my blanket. I’m so tired.”

Pink Topaz looked up; the ashes were making the sand gray, and the fires were slowly dying down on their own.  She flinched as one tree fell over. “I guess our job here is done.”

“I’m really sorry,” Clark repeated. “I didn’t think we’d be like this together…”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Howlite said. “Lots of new fusions are messed up. Oh, the stories we could tell, huh, Pink?”

Pink just ruffled her hair. “Alright, time to go home. Can you get up?”

“Yes, but I prefer not to.”

“Come on,” Pink Topaz said, and grabbed her by her ankles, then started pulling her to the Gem warp. Howlite groaned the whole way.

Clark, however, stood up slowly. “I’m so sorry for almost attacking you, Peri.”

Peri smiled shakily. “I am fine. And it is just good to know that my shield works well. Not perfect yet, however.” He looked down, as Clark walked away to the warp pad. “Believe me, you are not the scariest Gem I have seen…”

The group looked out at the island; the flames were nearly gone now, ash still fell from the sky, and the smoke filled the sky. Clark winced; he was thinking of how Mahogany Obsidian won’t be happy to see the changes he made to the place.

As they warp back home, Clark looks over at Peri, who’s standing there quietly, staring at the ground. He thinks back to that memory from Red Phantom’s mind; was it a real memory? A prediction of the future? A hallucination?

He had no idea. He pat Peri on the shoulder gently, and he flinches, but Peri soon gave Clark a small smile.

 _‘Another day, another screw-up_ ,’ Clark thinks bitterly, when they finally make their way to the Legion headquarters. _‘I wonder when things are gonna start going right…’_

* * *

 

The massive being looks over at the damage on Mask Island. Everything else was green, but there was a large part of the scenery that was burned to a crisp.

Ashes fell from the sky like gray rain. The once colorful beach was gray and dead. The only thing that remained was the sand and rocks. The trees were nothing more than giant sticks of charcoal. Bushes were still letting off a bit of smoke.

There’s shards of broken glass on the sand. She steps on them deliberately. She’s too tough for it to hurt her.

She looks around. There’s no possible way this was because of humans. Everything about the damage seemed deliberate; only a certain area was affected. This looked like the work of a Gem. A very powerful Gem.

One she thinks she should seek out.

She takes one more look around with big black eyes. There’s no one around, but she still makes a loud noise, into the nothingness of the area.

“Bork?”


	6. Chapter 6

“Hey. You alive?”

Clark groaned. “I guess.”

“Good to know. Wanna patrol with me?”

Alunite kicks him lightly. Clark groans, and slowly sits up. “I dunno. Do you guys really trust me to handle _another_ Gem monster?”

Alunite rolls his eyes. “Hey, you really hit rock bottom. But it just means things can’t get any worse.”

Clark looked up at him. “Hey, that was actually kind of inspiring.”

Alunite just smirks. “Yeah, I have that effect on people.”

Clark rolls his eyes at him, and accepts his hand to pull him up. He spent the night over with the Legionnaires; he was way too tired to go back to his house. Not that laying on the cold wooden floor was comfortable, but by that point, he was too sore to care.

“No, stay on the floor with me. You’ve been such a good pillow.”

Alunite lightly kicks Howlite, so she rolls off Clark’s legs. He pulls Clark up to his feet.

“Are you sure she’s fine?” Clark asked nervously. Howlite was face-down on the floor, her black hair spread around her face. “I didn’t hurt her that bad, did I?”

“No,” her muffled voice said. “I’m just tired, and I miss Mahogany. My entire body feels like it pooped itself.”

“Ew.” Alunite rolls her over again so she’s face-up. “Come on, lazy-butt, get up. You want Mahogany to wake up and see you on the floor like this?”

“No,” Howlite moped, and floated upwards, and went outside, looking unenthusiastic the whole way. She turned to look into the window. “You guys better tell me when he wakes up!”

“I will!” Alunite promised, and she floated away.

“She’s really upset,” Clark noted.

“She always gets like this when Mahogany gets hurt,” Alunite said off-handedly. “Don’t worry about it. Mahogany will probably be back by the end of the week, and she’ll be her usual self again.”

“I hope so,” Clark muttered. “So, you guys usually patrol all week?”

“Well, duh,” Alunite said, as the two walked out. “We have to. We don’t want any humans to get hurt. Gem monsters usually go around the outskirts of the city, but we still patrol inside the city just in case.”

Clark felt a little nauseous. “You want the two of us… to go into the city?” His parents’ tiny shop was near the edge of the city, away from the noise, and closer to the beach. It’d be less of a huge change than living right smack in the middle of Metropolis. He wasn’t so used to being in crowds, and he was quite comfortable where he was right now; he didn’t want his red skin to attract attention.

Alunite seemed to read his mind. “Don’t worry, nobody’s gonna care about you being a Gem, they see us walking around all the time; they’re numb to it.”

“Are you sure?” Clark muttered. “I mean, I only got to go out a few times in Kansas, and every time, people called me a freak.”

Alunite shrugged. “If anyone calls you a freak, I’ll punch them in the face.”

“Don’t.”

“Fine. But seriously, nothing bad is gonna happen,” Alunite assured him. “You’re not _that_ repulsive.”

“Wow, thanks.”

-

Nobody said anything.

They walked right through the very heart of Metropolis, right by popular cafes and theaters and various other tall buildings, the streets busy with people walking to their destinations.

And nobody said anything to the two.

Clark was a little disappointed; he kind of hoped they’d be friendlier to a new addition to their great city. Then again, they could also be yelling at him. He preferred being ignored.

“So, nobody ever bothers you?” Clark said quietly. He walked past a mother with her small child, and even he hardly gave him a second glance as they walked by.

“Nah,” Alunite said. “We’ve been here for about five hundred years, they’re way too used to us.”

“That’s good,” Clark said. He pulled at his shirt collar. “So, uh, every single Gem on Earth is right here in Metropolis?”

“Of course not,” Alunite scoffed, running a hand through his red-orange hair. “There’s more Gems here.”

“Where? Can I meet them?” Clark asked, his face growing warm in excitement.

“They’re on the other side of the country,” Alunite explained. “We need to cover more ground; so, we had to split the Gem Legion in two. The other half is all the way in… what’s it called… California?”

“Are there Gems in other countries?” Clark asked.

“Well, Kindergarten was made here in the United States, so most Gem monsters are found here.”

“Peridot mentioned something about Kindergartens a while back,” Clark said. “But he never explained them to me.”

“It’s where Gems are made,” Alunite said, rolling his eyes. “You know, where you were _born_?”

“What do you mean?” Clark said, freezing on the spot. “You mean… A Gem gave birth to me?”

“Gems can’t _give birth_ ,” Alunite said, sighing as he returned to Clark’s side.  “What happens is, you put… I dunno, _Gem stuff_ , in the ground, you incubate, suck the nutrients from the soil around you, and then you come out of the ground fully-grown. Gems don’t really have parents, you know?”

“So, Gems are like plants?” Clark asked.

Alunite just stared at him, then shrugged. “I guess.”

Clark felt odd learning that; but he should’ve known that he came from something really weird. Still, learning he had just popped out of the ground was a strange revelation that he tried wrapping his mind around, as the two started walking.

“This is all new to you, huh?” Alunite asked. “Didn’t your human parents tell you about where you came from?”

“Not really,” Clark said. “Well, what happened was, I landed on Earth in a little space ship. My parents found me on their farm, and they couldn’t just call the police; I was an _alien_. So, they decided to keep me. My memory’s fuzzy about the whole thing, but my parents said I told them I was created only a week ago, so they put my birthday on February 29 th. And they’ve raised me for over sixteen years now. They didn’t know anything about Gems, and they had no idea how to work that space ship I came in.”

“And why were you on that spaceship?” Alunite asked. “What reason does a Ruby have to leave Homeworld?”

“I don’t really remember how or why I got on,” Clark said. “I just remember feeling scared.”

The two walked in silence for a while. Not that it was quiet, the babble of voices around them filled the air, but Clark felt awkward not speaking to him.

“So.” Clark wanted the awkward silence between them to end. “Why did you come to Earth?”

“I didn’t,” Alunite muttered. “Listen, it’s a long story. Can we talk about this later?”

Clark sighed. “Mahogany said the same thing.”

“It’s kind of personal,” Alunite said. “Drop it, okay?”

Clark didn’t want to say anything, but the words burst out of his mouth: “Does it have something to do with Ayla?”

Alunite turned around; he was expecting him to look _furious_ , but he just looked defeated. “Clark, listen, there’s a lot you don’t know about the Gem wars and what happened with those Gem monsters. We’ll tell you when you’re ready, but seriously, just _drop it_ , okay?”

Clark nodded. “Okay, I’ll stop.”

“Um… _Excuse me?_ ”

The two turned around at the sound of a new voice.

It was a young man, probably around the same age as Clark, thin and pale, with brown hair and eyes, wearing a shirt with a tie, and jeans. He was looking up at him with awe and admiration. And beside him was a very strange sight.

It was an enormous dog, probably a mutt. It was huge and fluffy, its fur nice and thick. But it was _pink_. The exact color of cotton candy. People that walked by started to stare at it.

“Nice dog,” Clark said, a little awe-struck at the sight himself.

The dog’s tail wagged. “ _Barf, barf_!”

“My name’s Winn,” the teen said, eagerly sticking his hand out to Clark, as Alunite stood back, looking confused. “And you’re a Gem, right?”

“I’m Clark, I’m new here,” Clark said, smiling as he shook his hand. At the sight, Winn started blushing. “Is that your dog?”

“No!” Winn said, and the dog walked closer, her tongue sticking out. “Uh, I was gonna ask… does she belong to you?”

“No,” Clark said, then turned to Alunite. “Is she yours? Or the Legion’s?”

Alunite frowned. “We don’t keep pets.”

“Well, she doesn’t have any collar or chip or tattoo, or anything,” Winn said. “And she’s pink, so I thought she might belong to the Gem Legion- “

Suddenly, the dog jumped into Clark’s arms, knocking him over and knocking the breath right out of him.

“No! Stop!”

But Clark wasn’t being attacked. At least, not with claws or fangs. The dog tickled him by pressing her paws on his stomach, and licked his face with her enormous tongue, while he laughed.

“She likes you!” Winn laughed. Alunite was smiling, too.

“So, guess you’re gonna take him to the pound?” Alunite asked.

“ _Bork_ …” The dog looked up at him with sad eyes.

Clark calmed down. “Can I keep her?”

“What is it with you wanting to keep any cute animal you see?” Alunite said. “You’re just like Benitoite…”

”Look at her, she’s cute!” Clark said. “And she doesn’t have a home! Unless you wanted to keep her, um…?”

“Winn, Winn Schott Jr.” the teen repeated. “And they don’t allow pets more than seven pounds in my apartment building.” He smiled nervously. “Uh, is it okay if I ask a few questions? It’s just that, you guys are really cool, and I’ve seen you guys around the city and the beach, and you guys never really stop by to talk to us humans, so…”

“No,” Alunite said bluntly, as Clark stood up.

“Aw, Alunite,” Clark chided, “he just wants to be our friend.”

“We don’t answer any questions, we don’t want to be interviewed,” Alunite said bluntly to a slightly-taken-aback Winn.

Winn sighed. “Well, I guess if you don’t want the dog, I can take her back to the pound.”

Clark hugged the dog around her neck, and looked over at Alunite. “Alunite! Please, let’s just take her home?” The two stared at him with sad eyes. “And please? I wanna hang out with Winn!” Winn caught on, and joined in with the sad eyes.

Alunite wasn’t fazed. “You can’t keep the dog. Or Winn.” He paused. “Well, you can hang out with Winn, but you’re not bringing that dog or Winn with you to the Headquarters.”

“ _Bork_ …” The dog barked, then started coughing.

“Aw, she’s sick,” Clark said, petting her head. “What’s wrong, girl? Hairball?”

The dog kept coughing, lowering her head… and then something fell out of her mouth.

Clark’s nose crinkled when he heard it, but when the dog stepped back, his eyes widened.

“ _Bork_?” She pushed it towards Clark with her paw, and stuck her tongue out at him again. She cocked her head to the side, looking quite proud of herself. “ _Bork_!”

“Oh.” Alunite looked down at the object too. “Wow.”

“That’s… not normal, right?” Clark asked.

“I’ve never seen a dog barf _that_ ,” Winn said. “That’s… just weird.”

It was a large Gem. Specifically, it was the Snow Beast’s Gem, from Mask Island. The one Red Phantom neglected to bubble.

“Hey, Winn, why don’t you bring this dog with you to our hideout?”

-

The group walked all the way back to the beach, Clark walking alongside Winn, the dog by Alunite’s side. She seemed determined to try and give him a big wet kiss, but he stubbornly pushed her away.

“So, how’d you find her?” Clark asked Winn.

“On the beach,” Winn said, and started blushing. “Sometimes, I come down on the beach to try and get a look at your guys’ headquarters. But that one Gem that shapeshifts always chased me away. I just always thought you guys were so cool, and I wanted to try and hang out!”

“We don’t hang out with humans,” Alunite said, not even bothering to turn around to look at him; he was too busy pushing the dog away. “They’re too nosy.”

“I’m not nosy!” Winn insisted. “I just think you’re cool! And I kind of want to know everything about you guys.”

“Nosy.”

“Am not!”

“So,” Clark said, hoping to stop any possible argument that could arise, “you found the dog, and you can’t keep her, so why don’t you take her to an animal shelter?”

“She’s too big to be in a shelter,” Winn said. “Besides, she’d rather be with you guys! You know she kept looking over at your guys’ headquarters.”

“You found her watching us, when you were spying on us?” Alunite asked.

“ _Not_ spying,” Winn chided. “And, anyway, why don’t you keep her?”

“We have tons of responsibilities,” Alunite said. “Besides, this dog could be danger- GROSS!”

Alunite recoiled from the dog, as she happily licked his face as he was distracted.

“Ugh!” Alunite flattened the hair that stuck up thanks to her saliva. “That’s it, you’re going to the pound!”

“No!” Clark said. “She’s so cute! And, we can’t. She’s obviously connected to us Gems, somehow.”

“You mean, you have no idea where this dog’s from?” Winn asked. “Maybe I can help you find out!”

“Yeah, you can start by taking us to the exact spot you found her,” Alunite said, as they made their way to the fence surrounding the headquarters.

“Okay, I’ll lead the way,” Winn said, and walked over next to some rocks sticking out of the ground, right outside of the fence.

“Right here?” Alunite said. “You just sit here and watch us?” As he spoke, the dog hid behind the rocks, staring up at the Headquarters with large black eyes.

“Yeah,” Winn admitted shyly. “B-But not like in a creepy way! I found her right here, see where the paw prints are?”

Alunite rolled his eyes. “Oh, jeez. Where’s Howlite? _Howlite_!”

“I’m here!” She floated over, looking much more cheerful than before. “What’s up, clods?”

“We have a situation,” Alunite said.

Howlite’s large eyes hovered on Winn, and she got in his face, smiling. “Hey, I know you! You’re the one who’s been hanging around all the time!” She turned to the others, still smiling. “He’s been here all week, looking over at us, since he got off school.”

Winn blushed. “Uh, yeah… B-But that’s not why we’re here!”

“Then what is?” Howlite said, her feet touching the sand. The dog walked over beside her.

“Bork!”

She turned to look at the dog. For a few seconds, all she could do was stare, wide-eyed…

“PUPPY!”

Howlite didn’t waste any time flying towards the dog at top speed, and buried her face into the dog’s fur. She hugged her tight, arms wrapped around her neck. “Oh my gosh, look at you! You precious piece of cotton candy! I just wanna eat you up!”

The dog looked pleased with the attention. “ _Boof! Bork!_ ” She licked Howlite’s face, making her grin.

She looked over at Clark. “I can’t believe you got me a dog! Listen, I didn’t blame you for what happened to Mahogany. But if I did, consider yourself _one-hundred percent forgiven_!”

Clark smiled sheepishly. “Um, thanks, but that’s not why we brought her.”

“Oh.” Howlite kept smiling. “So, why’d you bring the dog?”

Alunite handed her the now-bubbled Gem. “She barfed this out.”

Howlite stopped hugging the dog to grab the Gem. “Hey, isn’t this…?”

“The Gem from last night,” Clark confirmed. “The dog barfed this up, Howlite. This dog was on Mask Island, and I dunno how, but she made it all the way here. This human found her right here. Something’s up.”

Howlite teleported the Gem away with a tap, then turned to the dog. “How did you get on Mask Island? And how did you make it all the way here?”

“ _Boof_ ,” the dog said.

“We dunno,” Alunite said. “This human said he found him in the city, right?”

Winn nodded. “Yeah, I was walking around, down at the pier, and I found her digging in the trash. I put ads online and asked all around, but nobody has claimed her. Then I took her to the pound, you know, to see if she had any marks, but they said she doesn’t. And then I remembered you guys, and how you’re all colorful, and I know you guys come to town sometimes, so I tried looking for your usual route.”

“Why didn’t you just come into the Headquarters to meet us?” Clark asked. “The fence isn’t hard to climb over.”

“Like _you_ would know,” Howlite muttered with a smirk. Clark blushed, very well-aware of the recently-repaired part of the fence he’d tried to jump over, which happened to be nearby.

“Last time I tried that, she pecked at me,” Winn said, pointing at Howlite. She smiled sweetly.

Alunite walked over to the dog, and tried feeling her through all the fur. “I can’t feel a Gem, so it’s definitely not a Gem monster.”

“Are there dogs on Homeworld?” Clark asked.

“I dunno,” Alunite said. “Howlite?”

“I don’t think so,” she said, shrugging. “Guess we just found a magic dog that happens to like fighting Gems. Go figure. You can sleep in my room, you precious little pupper!”

“Howlite, we are _not_ keeping her!” Alunite repeated.

“But she found that Gem!” Howlite whined. She turned to the dog again. “What else do you have for us, girl? Huh?”

“ _Bork_ …” The dog just licked her. She walked over to Clark, and nudged his chest with her nose.

“She likes you,” Winn said, smiling.

The dog put her hand on Clark’s chest, and pulled down, exposing the Gem on his chest.

“Hey!” Clark pushed the dog away lightly, and covered himself up. “Don’t do that!”

“Whoa, was that your Gem thing?” Winn asked, staring at his chest. Clark blushed. “Can I see it?”

“Um, okay.” Clark lowered his shirt, and showed off his Gem. He didn’t like showing it off; it felt like he was showing off something embarrassing.

“Cool,” Winn said. “How come you don’t leave it out like the other Gems?”

“Howlite doesn’t show off her Gem,” Clark pointed out.

“Not true,” Howlite said, turning around and pulling her hair up with her hand, showing off the round Gem on her upper back.

“How come yours is covered, anyway?” Alunite asked.

“It’s embarrassing,” Clark muttered.

“But doesn’t it feel weird having it covered?” Alunite asked. “I mean, Gems are kinda built to have their Gems exposed, that’s how all other Gems have it.”

“I don’t like people looking at it,” Clark said. “That’s why I wear human clothes.”

Alunite rolled his eyes. “Sorry to say this, but you really shouldn’t wear human clothes to fight Gem monsters. You need Gem clothes.”

“You mean like a superhero outfit?” Winn asked, his voice breathless from excitement. “Can I make it? I can design it!”

Clark laughed; he liked Winn’s enthusiasm. “Well, if you two insist- “

“Oh, right! That reminds me! Clark, we have something for you!” Howlite said, and grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him closer to the headquarters. “Come on!”

“Hey, you’re gonna stretch out my sweater vest!” Clark complained. “My mom made it for me!”

Alunite sighed. “Oh, boy.” He stared at the dog. “What are you? Where’d you come from?”

“ _Bork_ ,” she said.

“Figures she wouldn’t answer,” Alunite said. He turned to Winn. “So, you can go home now, you’ve helped us already.”

“Can I hang out for a while?” Winn asked. “Clark seems cool!”

Alunite tried not to look too annoyed. “Fine. But don’t bother the others, okay? We’re busy people.”

“Alright,” Winn said, and hurried over to Clark’s side. He and Howlite were staring over at the beach, Howlite looking particularly proud of herself.

“Ta-da!” Howlite spread her arms out to show Clark the beach in front of the headquarters: large logs were sticking vertically on the sand, with paper plates taped on the top.

“Oh!” Clark said. He has no idea what he’s looking at. “They’re… pretty! I love them! I, uh… What are they, Howlite?”

“Well, we want you to get used to using your weapon and your powers,” Howlite said. “So, we built these for target practice! You’ve never really used your powers much, right?”

Clark blushed. He’d rather not share his experiences lighting newspapers on fire in the privacy of his bathroom back in Kansas. “Uh, a little bit.”

“Oh, wow, you’re gonna use your powers right now?” Winn asked, his eyes bright in excitement. “Can I watch?”

“Yeah,” Clark said, smiling down at him. It was nice having a _human_ talking to him, even _admiring_ him. “Maybe you should stand back, though, I don’t wanna hurt you.”

Winn nodded, and stood back. He dug through his backpack, pulling out a notebook and pencil.

Clark awkwardly pulled his shirt and sweater down, and summoned his shield. “Okay, let me try this out…” He looked at the nearest post, and aimed carefully, pretending his shield was a frisbee, and threw it.

And then the dog jumped in the way of the shield.

“NO!”

And then she shattered it in her mouth as she caught it.

Bits of red shards scattered on the grass before dissolving into nothing. The dog didn’t seem to be in any pain; she looked over at Clark and Winn, her mouth opens in a smile and her tongue sticks out. “ _Boof_!”

“That’s a strong dog,” Winn says. “Are you sure it’s not like a… I dunno, a Gem-dog?”

Alunite sighed, and stood up. “Okay, is nobody else worried about what’s up with this dog? And there’s no such thing as a… a Gem-dog.”

Howlite shrugged. “What’s the matter? It’s not like it’s attacking us.” She smiled, floating over to the dog’s side and smooshing the dog’s face in her hands. “You’re not mean, are you, you precious pupper?”

“ _Bork_!” The dog happily snuggled into her.

“I don’t get it,” Alunite said, walking over to the dog. “You’re smart enough to get a Gem from Mask Island. If you’re so smart, show us where you came from.”

“…?” The dog tilted its head at him. She backed up, and then…

 _“BOOORK!”_ The dog’s bark echoed loudly into the air, and right above Alunite and Howlite, a swirling pink portal appeared.

“Wait, what’s- “Before Alunite could finish his sentence, the dog jumped into the portal, and it closed behind her.

She was gone.

“Shouldn’t we follow her?” Winn asked. “She’s your dog.”

“No, she isn’t,” Alunite insisted. “She can be dangerous! It’s not just a stray dog, you know!”

“But we should still look for her,” Howlite said. “Maybe she went somewhere where there’s more of her.”

“You just want her back,” Alunite said, rolling his eyes. “But I guess you’re right, there’s that. How are we-?”

And another portal opens, beside Clark and Winn, and the dog jumps out.

“Bork! Barf!” The dog whimpers at Clark, pawing at his shirt, trying to expose his Gem. She tears his sweater, revealing several inches of his Gem.

“Hey!” He pushed her away lightly, and looked down at himself. He blushed when he noticed Winn staring, and covered it up with his hand. “Aw, my mom worked hard on this!”

Still, the dog continues to whimper and whine. She begins to nudge Winn towards the portal with her nose, the Alunite.

“She wants us to go in there?” Alunite asked.

“Should we?” Clark asks, frowning at the tor clothing.

“Well, it really wants us to,” Winn said. He smiles. “She wants me to go, too!”

“No.”

“Please?”

“Borf!”

And with that, the dog pushed Alunite through the portal.

“Hey!” Winn said. “That wasn’t- HEY!”

And then the dog pushed him in too.

Howlite shrugged. “If Alunite lets us keep her, we’re getting her obedience lessons.”

Clark looked over at her. “You coming?”

“Nah,” Howlite said, shaking her head. “I wanna stay here until Mahogany gets better. You go, and tell me what happens when you get back, okay?”

“O-Okay,” Clark said. He didn’t want to go through that weird portal by himself, but he had no choice. He jumped in.

It felt strange, being surrounded by walls of pink as he traveled to… wherever he was headed. It felt like only a second later, he was thrown to the ground after reaching the opening. He felt soft grass beneath him, and suddenly, he heard four paws hit the ground beside him. The dog licked his face eagerly.

“Okay, okay, I’m up,” Clark laughed, standing up, He sees Alunite helping up a still-dazed Winn.

“Ugh, can’t believe that mutt brought you here,” Alunite muttered as Winn dusted off a bit of dirt on his pants. “You could’ve gotten hurt.”

Clark looked around. They seemed to be in a grassy field surrounded by enormous stones sticking out of the ground. The sun was already setting, leaving them in little light.

“So, this is where Sugar came from?” Clark said, petting the dog. “Wonder what she’s been doing here.”

Alunite just stared. “ _Sugar_?”

Clark smiled. “Y-Yeah, that’s the name I wanted to give her. You know, ‘cause she’s pink like cotton candy?”

Alunite just groaned. “That thing can make portals, and you want to keep her?”

Before Clark could respond, they heard a loud hooting, like an owl’s. And then another identical hooting joining in.

From the two nearest stones came out two identical Gem monsters; long-legged, with large owl-like bodies and horn-shaped feathers sticking out on top of its head. It was pitch black except for its neon blue eyes. The left one had its Gem on its left wing, the other on its right.

Sugar barked excessively at the beasts; the two ran off in two different directions, and Clark saw how surprisingly noodle-like their long legs were. Sugar stood her ground, though still whimpered and trembled.

“Aw, see?” Clark said, trying to pet Sugar’s head soothingly. “She’s not evil, she just wants us to protect her home!”

Alunite rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay, I’ll admit I was wrong about that weird dog. But we gotta get those Hide-Behinds out of here, shouldn’t be too hard. I’ll take the left one, you take the right one.” With that, he ran off.

Clark watched him go uneasily. On one hand, he left him by himself, because he probably thought he was capable of handling the monster by himself. On the other hand… it was his first time alone with a Gem monster. And with a defenseless human, too.

“U-Uh, now what?” Winn said.

Clark tried to make himself feel braver; he didn’t want his new human friend to get scared. “Don’t worry! I’ve dealt with these before.” _Badly._ “I can take them down easy.” _And an entire cave along with them._ “You’ll be safe with me.” _I hope._

With that, he walked off, Winn following him closely, and Sugar beside him. He almost laughs, thinking of how odd they must look. He listens carefully for another cry from the owl. But he hears nothing, as they make their way into a field of tall rocks.

Hide-Behind… the name is probably a dead giveaway as to what it does. He summons his weapon again, and throws it at a tall rock farther away.

As expected, the noise scares off the Hide-Behind, who was previously taking shelter behind a tall rock. It jumps out, its spindly legs nearly slamming down on top of them.

Sugar starts barking again, but Clark takes his weapon out again, and throws it at the creature’s legs.

It slices through all the way, and the Hide-Behind lets out a mournful hoot before it retreats into its bright blue Gem.

Sugar runs over and grabs it in her mouth, then cheerfully dumps it in Clark’s hand.

“Um. Thanks, Sugar.” He wipes the drool off, and bubbles the Gem. “It’s okay, you’re safe now, little guy.” He taps the top away, and the Gem leaves.

“Wow,” Winn says, breathless. “You made that look so easy.”

Clark nodded. “Yeah, it was. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Winn said.

“Told you it’d be easy.”

Clark turns to see Alunite walking over, the bubbled Gem in his own hands. “Wasn’t too much trouble, right?”

“Not at all,” Clark said, smiling. “Hey, so, uh, since Sugar isn’t a Gem monster, or dangerous….”

Alunite rolled his eyes. “You’re cleaning up after her. And she’s sleeping with you.”

Clark grinned. “Thank you! I promise you’ll love her!”

Alunite laughed. “Yeah, sure I will.” He looked around. “Hmm, this place looks familiar, there might be a Gem warp a few miles away…”

_“BOOORK!”_

Sugar opened another pink portal in front of them.

“Guess that solves our problem.” Alunite walked through.

Winn smiles shakily. “Wow, uh, do you think it’s okay if I hang around you, sometime soon? I mean, I have a job, and I’m out past my curfew, but maybe when I’m free, I can come over and we can hang out?”

“Yeah!” Clark’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Yeah, I’m free pretty much all summer! I-I mean, other than all the Gem stuff I gotta do. But, yeah, you can visit whenever!”

Winn smiled. “G-Great! See you soon, then?”

“Yeah!”

Winn walked through the portal. Clark was about to follow him, but Sugar blocked his path.

“Hey, girl,” Clark said soothingly. “What’s wrong?”

She pulled him by the sleeve.

“You want me to follow you?”

“Boof!” She walked away, and Clark followed her. She walked past many tall stones, and Clark didn’t find it much trouble to follow her in the mostly-smooth grass field. And finally, in the distance, he sees a different stone jutting from the ground. It wasn’t smooth like the others; it looks like a statue of a person.

“ _Bork_! _Bork_!” Sugar runs off towards it, and Clark runs after her. Thankfully, she stops right in front of the stone.

“Hey!” he shouts out, and finally stops. “What are… you… huh?”

He looks up at the statue.

“Wow,” Clark breathed out.

The statue depicted a tall woman with wavy hair. She wore a long dress over her tall, thin body. Her eyes were closed, her face very pretty. There’s a Gem on her chest; it’s the same shape as his, but smooth and rounded out. She’s wearing a long, stiff-looking dress. There was writing on the plaque beneath her, but it was in a different alphabet, and was so worn-out that he can’t tell what it says.

He smiled. Something about the statue made him feel safe. He feels like he’s seen that face before. He stares at it, wondering where he’s seen it, but no memory comes up. He likes looking at the statue, though. Her pretty face puts him at ease.

“I know her from somewhere,” Clark whispers to Sugar.

Sugar just sits beside him. She cocks her head at the face.

“She’s pretty,” Clark says. “I’m sorry. I wish I remember where I saw you.”

He doesn’t want to leave; the statue brings a calming feeling, but he has to go back. He turns to Sugar. “Hey, you brought me here, can you take me back?”

Sugar lets out a howl towards the surface of another rock, and another portal appears.

“You’re a weird dog, you know that?” Clark asks her.

“ _Bork_!” She nudges Clark towards the portal, and he jumps in, and she follows soon after.

He comes back on the beach. Winn is gone, and Alunite is walking away; Howlite is perched on a rock, waiting for them. When she sees the portal open, she grins widely. “I missed you!”

Clark felt like he should’ve known she was going to hug the dog and not him, and yet he held his arms out hopefully, anyway. He felt mildly disappointed when she wrapped her arms around Sugar instead, burying her face into her thick, fluffy fur. Then she hugged him too, and he felt better.

“So, you staying the night here, too?” Howlite asked. “Or are you gonna take the dog out to your parents?”

“ _Boof_.” Sugar ran over and pushed the door to the tiny house open, and the two Gems followed. She settled herself on the floor, her giant tail wagging happily. She was curling up against a cushion, that had Mahogany’s Gem on it.

“Maybe she’s trying to keep it warm,” Howlite said softly.

“So, how do you think he’s gonna react to finding out we have a new pet?” Clark asked.

Suddenly, his Gem began to glow, and Sugar let out a bark of happiness.

Howlite grabbed Clark’s arm tight. “Doesn’t matter, we can just ask him!”

Mahogany burst out in a flash of yellow-orange light. He looked the same as before, though Clark swears his fangs are larger than before, when he sees him grinning at Howlite. Howlite throws herself at him, hugging him tight and lifting him into the air in what looks like a bone-crushing hug.

“Oh my gosh, finally!” Howlite said. “You took too long, you giant clod!”

“You always say that,” he muttered, but smiled nonetheless. He looked over at Clark. “You okay? Sorry I wasn’t there to see what’s been going on.”

“Everything’s great!” Clark said. “Well, sort of. I kinda… failed… at fusion. But things are okay now, and I made a new human friend!”

“And we got a dog!”

“…What dog.”

Mahogany got his answer when he turned around, and Sugar licked his face eagerly. “ _Barf_!”

“She’s so cute!” Howlite squealed, kissing the top of her head. “Don’t worry about a thing, though, you’re still my favorite puppy.”

“I’m so sure,” Mahogany said, rolling his eyes but accepting another hug, nonetheless.

Clark just smiled at the pair, before going over to sit next to Sugar, and pet her head. “It’s been a crazy past few days, huh, Sugar?”

“ _Bork_!” She laid her body down again, and pulled Clark close to her stomach. As Mahogany and Howlite exited the room, Clark gave his mother a quick text, before falling asleep, using his new pet as a pillow.

The two Gems closed the door behind them and turned into an owl and a wolf, and stood on two rocks, looking at the city, listening closely for any monsters.

But there weren’t any monsters in the city. If they had stuck around the beach, looking out into the ocean, they would’ve seen something round and green shooting through the sky. If they had seen, they could’ve predicted that it was headed right for Kindergarten.

Peridot was outside, working on his new limb enhancers, when he saw the flash of green reflecting on the surface of his work.

He looked up into the sky, and very briefly saw the green sphere, but it disappeared quickly. He felt himself grow uneasy at the sight. He tries to think, it’s unreasonable that they’d come for him. Or was it for the Legionnaires? Or another sinister reason?

He started to sweat nervously. He tried to go back to his limb enhancers. He tried to think it was a stray meteor, or just a trick of the light, or perhaps a human invention? But he never lost that uneasy feeling. He looked up at the Earth’s moon. He wasn’t quite sure what he was worried about: for himself, for the Legionnaires, for the Earth, or all three. He shook his head. He had no reason to care about the Earth, he told himself. It was only a temporary safe haven. He has no reason to like this giant chunk of dirt. Except, perhaps, for one person…He stopped thinking about it. He distracted his mind with his work. He tried to convince himself he didn’t really see what he saw.


	7. I Lived, Bitch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to make a note that Archive of our Own won't let me see or reply to reviews, but I do get emails telling me I've received them, so I'd just like to say: THANK YOU FOR THE MESSAGES!

Clark wakes up the next morning to a knock on his front door.

Clark stretches and gets up, and smiles when he opens the door; it’s Winn, looking as eager as ever to see him, a backpack on his shoulders.

“Hey,” Winn says, when Clark lets him inside. “Uh, is this your… house?”

Clark blushes. “Sort of? The Gems built it for me, because I can’t go inside that temple thing. I mostly just sleep here, when I’m not with my parents.”

“Cool,” Winn said, still awed at the house. “Oh, right! So, you said I could design you a Gem costume! Well, I went through my comic books for inspiration, and I drew this!”

Winn handed him a miniature sketchbook. The left page had notes, the right was a rather simple drawing of Clark, in a new outfit. It looked like a typical superhero outfit. Dark red, with bright red boots, a belt, and a cape.

Clark stares at the page. “Wow, it really _is_ like a superhero design!” He looks at the design with a little bit of uneasiness. “Wow, my Gem is, uh, really visible.”

“Well, yeah, didn’t that one guy said it should be like that?” Winn asked nervously.

Clark nodded. “Yeah, he did. I’m just not really used to having it shown off like that.” He smiled at the page. “What’s the cape for?”

“Coolness factor,” Winn admits without shame. “It’ll make you feel like the superhero that you and the others are!”

Clark stares. “Superhero, huh?”

He certainly hasn’t felt like a hero these past few days. The Gems once talked about him, like he was meant for great things… but he proved over and over that he might not be meant for that. But he really wanted to show them, what he was really capable of…

“A superhero,” Clark said again, this time quietly. “Do you really think I’m like a hero?”

“You saved me,” Winn reminded him with a smile. “You were my hero, and you were… super. See? Superhero.”

Clark smiled at Winn’s logic. “Well, I like it. S-Should I change into it?”

“Don’t we have to have it made, first?” Winn asked.

“It’s different for Gems,” Clark said. He awkwardly takes his human clothes off, revealing his Gem clothes, a simple shirt and shorts, underneath.

“Here goes,” Clark said. He doesn’t really know _how_ he knows to do this, but it’s pure instinct that has him shapeshift the tight clothes into an exact copy of the outfit in Winn’s notebook.

The pure-red outfit, with brighter red boots and cape, definitely made him feel more powerful. He looked down at the exposed Gem on his chest. Still felt weird, but… it felt right.

“You look amazing,” Winn said, looking him up and down. “Wow, like a real-life superhero.”

Clark laughed. “I kinda _feel_ like a real-life superhero.”

Someone knocked on the door. Clark walked over and opened it. It was Peri, his limb enhancers in his arms.

“I need to put these inside for the time being; the Howlite said it will rain soon, and I should work inside,” Peri said, and walked in to put them gently down, in the corner. He looked over at Clark again, and smiled. “Good to see you in your proper Gem appearance modifiers. Did I not tell you they are better?”

“I like it,” Clark admitted. “How do I look?”

“I like the cape,” Peri said with a smile. “You look like a real soldier.”

“Thank you?” Clark said. He didn’t know how much he liked being called a _soldier_ , yet. Hero had a nicer ring to it.

“Wow,” Winn said. “Who’s that?”

Seeing Winn, Peri straightened up, his hands folded in front of him. “I am Peridot, Facet AW06 Cut B5. Not to brag, but I am a highly intelligent Peridot from Homeworld.”

“We just call him Peri,” Clark said. Peri rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

“Wow,” Winn said, still staring at him in awe. “Uh, wow, cool! Welcome to Earth!”

Peri just nodded. “Thank you, human.”

“It’s Winn,” Winn said. “Winslow Schott.”

“Well, Winslow, if you or Clark need me, I will be gathering my tools to work inside.”

“What are you working on?” Winn asked. He seemed fascinated by Brainy, and Clark had to smile.

“Limb enhancers,” Brainy said simply. He walked outside again.

“Don’t worry about him too much,” Clark told Winn. “He’s not the most social person, but he’s good company. He’s a good friend.”

“Aw, man, I can’t wait to show you to _my_ friends,” Winn said. “I’m not really from here, I used to live in National City. It’s pretty far, but I have a friend there, he loves weird stuff like this.” His eyes widened. “I-I mean, wait! I meant, weird, but in a good way!”

Clark laughed. “Don’t worry.” ‘ _I’ve been called worse…’_

“Do you think, if we see another monster, he can take pictures?” Winn asked. “My friend James loves taking pictures. He’s a great photographer.”

Clark laughed nervously. “I dunno how the other Gems would feel about that. You know they try and keep this place secret.”

Winn’s eyes widened. “Hey, Clark, that reminds me, my friend James? He took a picture of something last night. We thought it was nothing, but then we found out it was all over the news here.”

“Really?” Clark asked. “Of what?”

“Didn’t you watch the news?” Winn asked. “That weird green UFO or whatever it was, it was all over the news this morning… Actually, James sent me the picture, I have it right here in my phone…”

He pulled out his phone and showed a picture- of a green sphere headed towards Earth. The image was very clear, and Clark saw the object moving rapidly through the clouds. It seemed metallic.

“It looks like a UFO,” Clark said.

Pink Topaz walked in. “Clark, I thought I sensed a human in here. Hello. Your name is Winslow, right?”

Winn looked up at her, her long golden locks, her pink eyes, her tall stature. He seemed to forget how to talk for a second, but Clark nudged him with his shoulder to get him to speak again. “O-Oh! Yeah. I’m Winslow. Uh, I mean, everyone calls me Winn.”

“Hey, Pink, check this out,” Clark said, handing the phone to her. She held it gently and looked down at the photo with a stern expression.

Pink Topaz turned to Winn again, making him blush. “This photo might be of something related to Gems, and from the looks of it…” She sighed. “This could be bad. Do you know where this vessel was headed?”

“U-Uh…” Winn seemed to still be in a trance, staring up at Pink Topaz in awe. “A-Arizona, I think they said on the news…”

She thought it over for a bit. “Clark, you’re coming with me and Alunite.” She walks towards the door, then stops. “You know what, we should bring Peridot, too.”

“Excuse me?” Clark could hear Peri from outside. “You must be trying to be facetious, right?”

“No, you’re coming, you know how Kindergartens work,” Pink said, opening the door. “We might need you.”

“Wait, _Kindergarten_?” Clark asked. “We’re going to that place Gems are made?” He stood up to go outside, leaving Winn sitting there, confused. “U-Uh… I’ll be back in a few hours! Sorry, Winn!”

“It’s okay,” Winn said. “Call me when you get back, alright? I wanna hear about everything!”

“I will!” Clark goes outside, and sees Alunite has already joined them.

“Ugh, we’re going to Kindergarten, huh?” Alunite said. “Which one?”

“The one near the north of Arizona,” Pink said. “The human’s news says they saw a UFO headed there.”

“You think it’s from Homeworld?” Alunite asked uneasily.

“We’re not sure, that’s why we’re going over there,” Pink said. “Clark and Peri are coming.”

“Why Peri?” Alunite said, and Clark could tell he was trying his hardest not to sound too annoyed.

“If something is going on in Kindergarten, Peridot will be the only one who can figure out the computers and other equipment there.”

“Fine, he can come,” Alunite grumbled.

Pink rolled her eyes at him. “I wasn’t _asking_ you if he could.”

Alunite blushed. “S-Sorry…”

“It’s fine,” Pink said shortly. “Right now, we have more important things to do. Let’s take the warp in Clark’s room.”

“Okay.” The three head inside of Clark’s room again, just as Winn makes his way out. Clark follows the others inside.

“Good luck!” Winn calls out.

“Thanks!” Clark replies.

The four step on the warp pad, and it activates. Peri floats beside Clark, looking anxious.

“Are you okay?” Clark asked him quietly.

Peri nods.

They make it there in a flash, and Clark is awed at what he sees. They’re in a _massive_ canyon, cloudy and purple, and eerily quiet. What concerns him is the human-shaped holes all over the canyon walls. Occasionally, there’s a crack in the walls, or huge craters.

“Whoa,” he says quietly. “So, this is where Gems are born?”

“Yeah,” Alunite says. “Don’t you recognize it? You were made in one, too, you know.”

Clark shrugs. “I don’t remember it much. And I’ve definitely never been here before.”

Alunite sighs. “Yeah, I figured.”

“So you were made in one of these on Homeworld?” Clark asked.

Alunite looked uncomfortable. Pink spoke up. “It’s complicated.”

“I’ve heard that a lot lately,” Clark muttered, his eyebrows dipped in annoyance. “You know, you guys can just tell me what’s up, I can handle it.”

Pink Topaz only looked over at Alunite.

“I wasn’t made on Homeworld like the others,” Alunite muttered. “I was made on Earth.”

“Oh.” Clark had no idea why this was such a big deal. “Uh, why is that a problem?”

Alunite looked at the ground. “It’s just… some Gems think it’s… it’s bad to be made here, is all.”

“Oh.” Clark doesn’t really understand, still, but he nods anyway. “O-Okay. Are all of you guys from Earth?”

“No,” Pink Topaz said. “Mahogany Obsidian is from Earth, too. So is Ametrine.”

“You mean, all three of her?” Clark asked.

Pink nodded.

“But why do you guys act like that’s such a big secret?” Clark asked.

Pink and Alunite looked at each other. “I guess an Era 2 Gem like you won’t really get it. It’s…”

“Complicated?” Clark guessed.

“…It’s just not something you’d understand,” Alunite continued. “You’d have to be part of Homeworld to really get the whole thing.”

“Okay,” Clark said with a hint of doubt in his voice. “So, what do you think is going on here in Kindergarten?”

“Well, someone might want to reactivate the machines here, to create more Gems,” Pink explained.

“What machines?” Clark asked.

“You’ll see them in a bit, once we get going,” Alunite explained. “I think they’re way out there.” He pointed in front of them, in the distance. The group started to walk.

“So, Homeworld wants to make new Gems? For… an army?” Clark guessed.

“We’re not sure,” Pink said. “But it doesn’t matter why. We need to stop them. If they make more Gems here, it’ll destroy the whole planet.”

“How?” Clark asked, but interrupted Pink with a gasp.

The machines were _enormous_. They were glass and metal, with large red gems on the top. There were drills on the bottoms, surrounded by spider leg-like appendages. They freaked him out a bit; they were either laying on the ground, standing on their legs, or attached to the walls of the Kindergarten.

“Are those the machines that make Gems?” Clark asked shakily.

“They’re Injectors, they inject into the walls and create Gems,” Pink explained.

Clark stared up at the nearest one. It was weird; he was created using one of those?

Clark looked over at Peri. He’s been completely silent so far. “Peri? You were made on Homeworld, right?”

Peri looked straight ahead, and nodded.

Clark looked back at the machines. “I wonder where I was made…” Peri said nothing.

“Wait. Stop.”

Everyone stopped in place, and Pink Topaz turned to Peri.

“You know something about that thing that crashed to Earth,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

Peri glared at her. “So quick to assume things, are we?”

“I can read your mind,” Pink Topaz said. “I know that you have an idea as to what it might be.”

Peri just stared. “You are very unusual for a Topaz, you know.”

“I know.” She looked right into his eyes. “Now, what do you know about the thing that’s landed on Earth?”

Peri was silent for a bit, then… “I do not know anything. But I think it is from Homeworld. In fact, I can almost guarantee it is, considering it just happened to be headed here.”

“And what do you think it is trying to do?” Pink Topaz asked.

“Possibly start up the Kindergarten again,” Peri said simply. “I would not know; I have been missing for five thousand years, you know.”

“I don’t think you could have possibly contacted Homeworld,” Pink Topaz said. “So I know this can’t be because of you.”

Peri looked guilty.

“You think they’re coming after you?” Pink asked.

“Or you,” Peri said. “I know five thousand years is quite a long time to take action on the rebel Gems, but…” He went quiet. “Well, we never know.”

Pink continued walking, saying nothing. “Whatever it is, we can’t attack immediately. Whatever Gem or Gems are here, are probably dangerous.”

“Hey, what’s that?” Clark asked, pointing to the sky.

Pink Topaz turned to see what he was pointing at. The UFO was visible in the cloudy sky, and it seemed to be getting bigger and clearer…

“That’s definitely a Vessel,” Pink said. “We have to hide.”

“Looks like there’s only one Gem inside,” Alunite said, but Pink Topaz pulled him towards a pile of boulders. “We can take them!”

“Not until we find out what that Gem is doing here,” Pink said, and Clark and Peri soon followed, also hiding behind other rocks.

The two hear the ship land on the ground loudly. Clark takes a peek, and sees it’s a round green ship, surprisingly simple. A rounded green triangle window was visible on the top, but Clark can’t see who’s inside.

And then the window opens up, and he sees someone step out.

“Ugh, disgusting.”

The Gem walks around, and looks up at the Kindergarten with a look of disgust. She adjusts the sword that’s hanging on to her belt. “Gross. The quicker I get off this giant clod, the better.”

The Gem presses a weird button on her shorts, and a screen pops up.

“Emerald reporting here. Hmm, everything seems normal here. No signs of life… _Gladly_ …”

Clark immediately dislikes her.

He hears a weird noise, and he ducks behind the rocks. He peeks out from the other side of the boulder he’s behind; Alunite looks, too. From Peri’s rock, they see some tiny pebbles knocked over.

The Emerald’s head whips around to look at the pebbles, and a strange green beam is emitted from her Gem. It’s weak, but it still cracks the rock. She stares at the spot, her eyes narrowed, as though she was waiting for something. Clark almost gasps, Peri was behind those…

Peridot popped up from behind the rubble just a few seconds later, wide-eyed. “Who’s there?”

Emerald pointed her sword at him. “A Gem? State your name and purpose!”

Peridot shuddered a bit. “I-I am Peridot, Facet AW06, Cut B5.”

Emerald stared at him. “You’re… _that_ Peridot?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

Emerald’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “And what are _you_ doing _here_?”

Clark could only listen in, but he marveled at how fast Peri’s mind worked. “I was sent to this Kindergarten to supervise the Injectors. But there was an attack by the Gem Legion, and I was injured in the process, and trapped in the debris. I have not been able to regenerate until now.” He looked confused. “How long have I been in my Gem? And where are the Quartz soldiers?”

Emerald lowered her weapon, but her sneer stayed. “You’ve been gone for five _thousand_ years, you clod.”

Peri looked shocked. “ _Five thousand years_?”

“Did I stutter?” she snapped. “Your disappearance has caused a lot of commotion on Homeworld, you know.”

“It has?” Peri said, sounding genuinely confused.

“We lost the war, of course,” Emerald muttered. “And right now, I’m on a mission for Yellow Diamond.” She grabbed his shoulder. “But, I need to introduce you to Yellow Diamond.” She smiled. “The rewards I would get, for discovering you’re still alive… Come on.”

Clark peeked out carefully, and Peri did not look happy as Emerald pulled him away from the rubble and to the smooth ground. In fact, he looked _terrified_.

“A-And your mission?” Peri asked, trying to look calm again.

Emerald pulled out something from her Gem; an odd, multicolored, diamond-shaped object. “I was sent to check on the progress of something called the Myriad project. But right now, Yellow Diamond’s lead weapon designer is more important.”

 _Lead weapon designer?_ Clark wasn’t so surprised by that; of course Peri was good at designing things, considering he rebuilt his limb enhancers from practically nothing. But still, who was Yellow Diamond…?

“The Myriad project?” Peridot asked. “What is that?”

“Classified,” Emerald said with a smirk. “Just be happy I’m here to save you, okay, clod?”

Peri frowned at her. “As a lead weapon designer, I am higher rank than you. You should not be at such ease to call me a _clod_.”

“You sure about that?” Emerald said smugly. “I mean, you did abandon us in a time of need. I’m not sure Yellow Diamond is going to be happy. But I bet he’s going to be happy with _me_ …”

Peri didn’t like hearing that. Emerald turned to the device in her hand, and pressed a yellow diamond shape on the object. She twisted the top part, and put it on the ground.

A yellow holographic screen popped out, and Emerald and Peri looked up at it. Emerald stepped back so that Peri was in full view.

A yellow face appeared on the screen. It didn’t look pleased.

Peridot bowed. “Greetings, Pearl.”

The Yellow Pearl looked down at Peridot 5 with annoyance. Her short, fluffy hair barely reached her chin, and her bangs almost totally covered up the small yellow pearl on her forehead, the exact same placement as Peri’s gem. Her one-piece, sleeveless outfit had an upside-down heart shape cut out of the chest, as well as a transparent, dark-yellow skirt. She was fairly thin and short, though seemed taller than Peri. “Who gave you the authority to make this call? This is a direct call to the Yellow Diamond control room, you know!”

Peridot flinched. “I would not be calling if it was not an emergency!”

“Oh, I am so sure!” Yellow Pearl said bossily. “Now-”

“ _Pearl_.”

Yellow Pearl stopped in her tracks, and looked up at someone off-screen. “Yes, my Diamond?”

“Why don’t you give me that communicator?” the deep, imposing voice said. “I want to see what this is all about.” Peri gasped quietly.

Clark peeked from behind the stones, despite Alunite tugging at his cape. He gasped at the enormous Gem that made his appearance on the Diamond communicator’s screen.

His pale-yellow skin contrasted against his dark mustard-colored uniform, some parts metallic and armor-like. His armor looked thick and impressive, though his face began to scare Clark. The Gem was completely bald, and had a diamond-shaped Gem on his forehead, like Peri. His eyes were sunken deep into his skull, with creepy light-yellow irises and tiny pupils. His wide shoulders and overall  _enormous_  stature gave off the impression of authority.

 “Who’s…?” Clark started to ask, though Alunite shut his mouth with his hand forcefully. He turned to him, and Alunite shook his head slowly, a finger on his lips.

Peri jumped at the sudden appearance of the new Gem, and quickly formed a diamond shape with his arms in an odd salute. “O-Oh! H-Hello… My Diamond.”

Yellow Diamond said nothing, just staring down at him with those deep-set eyes.

Peri continued. “U-Um… This is Peridot reporting.”

Yellow Diamond’s eyebrows dipped down in impatience. “ _Which_  peridot?”

Peridot paused, looking just the tiniest bit deflated, then perked back up again. “Peridot, Facet AW06, Cut B5!”

Yellow Diamond’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly upwards in surprise. “ _Facet AW06, Cut B5_ , you said?”

“Y-Yes, my Diamond,” Peri said shakily.

“Ah, yes, I remember… Peridot 5,” Yellow Diamond stated. For some reason, the use of that name made Peri look highly relieved. “You were the Peridot that helped us in the war, with your new weapons.” He looked annoyed again. “And then went missing. And now, thousands of years later, you are on Earth.”

“My Diamond,” Peri said quickly, “There were… some circumstances… that had me trapped in my Gem for all of this time! I was kept here against my will!”

“You went missing right around the time we needed you most,” Yellow Diamond stated. “You were our smartest Gem, after all. Created to be smarter than any Gem that came before you, and you did not disappoint.”

Peri looked like he was given the highest compliment possible; he smiled and gave a small bow. “Thank you, my Diamond.”

Yellow Diamond frowned. “And yet, you were not smart enough to contact Homeworld the second you ended up trapped on Earth.”

Peridot shrunk at that. “I was ambushed by the enemy!”

“And why were you using a Warp Pad in the first place?” Yellow Diamond continued over Peri’s speech. “You have no reason to go to that miserable planet. You are lucky that your old manager no longer works in your department; she has been downgraded to working at the Zoo. But I will be assigning you a new manager, and she will certainly be made aware of your incompetence.”

Clark could see Peri shifting nervously at those words, though at the mention at the “Zoo”, Clark saw a flicker of something in Peri’s eyes; could it have been relief?

“Now, is there a reason you are wasting my time?” Yellow Diamond asked flatly.

“I ask for your forgiveness,” Peridot said quickly. His eyes flickered very briefly towards the boulders, where the others were hiding…

“Hmmm,” Yellow Diamond said, looking at another screen briefly. “How about you make up for lost time, instead?”

Peri seemed confused. “My Diamond, what do you mean?”

“There is a certain project down in the Beta Kindergarten that must be inspected,” Yellow Diamond stated. “I sent Emerald to check on it, though seeing as you are the one who designed the interface there, you would know how to find that information best; and as you are the one that has inconvenienced me for so long, you may as well help Emerald. You will check on the project, though I doubt you _do_ know what I am talking about.”

“I know what the Beta Kindergarten is, my Diamond,” Peri stated.

“No, you are going to check on our weapon that is being monitored in the Beta Kindergarten’s computers,” Yellow Diamond said sharply, making Peri jump. “That weapon will mean the destruction of that miserable planet. Contact me once you check the vitals, and we will have Emerald take you to her Vessel to get you off of that useless piece of dirt before it explodes.”

Clark looked over at the other Gems with wide eyes.

“D-Destroy the Earth?” Peridot repeated. “But…” Peridot looked back at the boulders, with the full knowledge of the Gems hiding behind it.

“ **But**?” Yellow Diamond repeated. “Are you questioning my authority, Peridot 5?”

“What? No! M-My Diamond,” Peri stuttered. “I-I just… think there could be something better to do with the Earth? Why bother creating a whole weapon in order to destroy it?”

Yellow Diamond’s jaw clenched, and he stood up to his full height. He was looking truly scary now, looking down at Peri with utter contempt.

“You will  **not**  talk down to me, you puny Peridot!” Yellow Diamond yelled. “I commissioned you! I am the reason you were given life! I am the reason you have your high intellect! And you will show me the  **respect**  I deserve.”

“But I just-” Peridot said, but once again, Yellow Diamond interrupted.

“ **You**  were created by  **me** , you Peridot, not the other way around,” Yellow Diamond stated. “And I do not care if those rebel Gems tortured you to the point of  _corruption_ ; you will do as I say, and make up for lost time: you  **will**  check on the weapon, and you  **will**  come back to Homeworld and make up for lost time. You have no  _idea_  how far behind you are on your work, you pathetic excuse for a Gem! Is. That.  **Clear**?”

Clark dared another peek, and was surprised to see Peridot close to tears. He looked down at the ground, his blond hair obscuring his face.

“I am staying.”

“What was that?” Yellow Diamond whispered dangerously.

Peridot looked back, looking very bravely, right into Yellow Diamond’s eyes. “I am staying! You and the rest of Homeworld do not deserve my high intellect! There are things on this planet worth protecting, and I will stay here to protect them from the likes of you! I will not be returning to Homeworld, and I will not be doing anything more for you!”

Yellow Pearl let out a gasp. She looked over at Yellow Diamond, whose jaws and fists were clenched.

“And you know what?” Peri said, with the air of someone finally letting something off of their chest with great pleasure. “Homeworld is _pathetic_! You claim to be expanding your knowledge, and yet it seems you are taking steps back! You used to have no problems facing countless other world to conquer and pillage, but you were finally defied by this puny rock! I do not wish to be part of Homeworld anymore! Earth is strange and backwards, from what I have seen, but… but…” He turned to the boulder again. “There are things here that… that draw me to it…” He turned back to Yellow Diamond.  “You can forget about me helping you or anyone on Homeworld anymore! You  ** _clod_**!”

Yellow Diamond gave Peridot an absolutely  _murderous_  glare.

“Emerald?”

Emerald straightened herself out. “Y-Yes, my Diamond?”

“Kill him.”

“Yes, sir.”

The screen went blank, and all Peri could do was stare up at the pure yellow screen with wide eyes, before he felt something pierce right through his torso with amazing speed.

Peri had no time to react; he immediately disintegrated into nothing, and his tiny Gem dropped to the ground.

“No.”

Clark stood up. Emerald turned quickly.

And without even thinking, somehow, bright yellow beams shot from Clark’s eyes.

Emerald leapt out of the way, though only barely in time; her loose sleeve was hit, and began to smoke, before bursting into flames. She gasped, when she saw Clark looking at her with a _murderous_ glare.

“You!” she sneered. “You’re one of those Gem Legionnaires, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am!” Clark said bravely. His eyes still felt hot. “I’m Clark… I’m a Ruby! And you… you hurt my friend! And I’m not letting you hurt anyone else!”

Suddenly, his eye beams activated again, and this time, it hit a distant boulder, as Emerald dodged out of the way. She fell to the ground, and they heard an odd crunch sound. She looked down, and one of those weird buttons on her pants was damaged. She gasped, before her eyes narrowed at him.

The Emerald brought out her sword again, from her belt loop. She smirked at him. “You are _not_ going to defeat me!”

_“We’ll see about that!”_

Alunite jumped out from behind the boulders, and Pink Topaz joined him.

“There’s _more_?” She shrieked. “Forget this!”

She pressed a button on her belt, and she teleported away.

“No! No! She can’t be gone!” And once again, without thinking, Clark used his eye beams where Emerald’s head was, and he ended up bringing down an enormous chunk of the Kindergarten wall; thankfully, it was too far away for it to hurt the others.

 _The others._ He finally remembered them. He turned around.

He felt his heart drop when they recoiled slightly, eyes wide, hands up defensively.

“Clark….”

And suddenly, Pink Topaz had her arms around him. He instantly softened his gaze; he loved being hugged, and it was a pleasant surprise, being hugged by someone who wasn’t his parents.

He sniffles a bit, and nods. “O-Okay…”

Pink Topaz investigates his eyes, her own eyes glowing soft pink. “Clark, everything will be okay. The enemy is gone. She can’t communicate with her boss. Peri was hurt, but he will be fine. You helped us, today. Without you, we might not have won today.”

Clark hears the words clearly in his mind, and it helps him focus. His face stops glowing. “I-I’m sorry for… for freaking out.”

Pink hugs him again. “It’s fine, Clark. You did the right thing.” She gives Alunite a calming look, and he sighs.

“Hey, you okay?” Alunite asked.

Clark nods shakily. “I-I’m fine. You?”

“Fine,” he says. “Hey, let’s take you home. Let me get Peri’s Gem.”

Clark felt himself tremble. “I-Is Peri gonna be okay?”

“Of course, he is,” Alunite said, returning with Peri’s Gem. It looks so small in his hand. “Want to hold his Gem?”

Clark’s hands reach out, and Alunite carefully places it in his palm. Clark looks down at the Gem.

“I’m sorry,” Clark whispers. “I’ll take good care of you.”

Alunite nods. “Hey, I’m sorry about Peri. But it’s gonna be fine. He’ll be okay in a few days.”

Clark sighed. “I’m sorry, guys. I just wanna go home.”

“We understand,” Pink Topaz said.

“I mean, back with my parents again,” he muttered.

“That’s okay too,” Alunite said.

“…Can I take Peridot with me?” Clark asked. “I promise he’ll be safe there.”

“It’s fine,” Pink said. She looked up; tiny drops of rain started to fall. “It’s supposed to be raining back home, too. Come on, let’s go.”

They walk back to the Warp Pad, Clark holding on to Peri’s Gem carefully, refusing to look at the other two in the eyes.

They step on the warp pad and make their way back home, where the rain is considerably stronger than in Arizona. It’s pouring hard, and the beach looks so empty. Pink looks over at Clark, who’s still looking down at the Gem on his hand.

“Clark?”

Clark sighs. “I’m fine, really. But what about Peridot?”

“He’ll regenerate in a few days, just like Mahogany,” Pink assured him. “As long as you keep his Gem away from anything dangerous.”

“No, I mean…” Clark sighed. “Is he gonna be okay, after what he said to that… Who was that guy? Y-Yellow Diamond?”

“He’s like the king on Homeworld,” Pink explains. “Well, there’s four of them, but… Well, it’s as if Peri used to serve under his court. And now he betrayed him and insulted him. So… Clark, I have to be honest. There may be Gems from Homeworld that will want to hurt Peri after what he said and did back in Kindergarten.”

“Then I’ll fight them for him!” Clark said bravely, his face glowing again. “I won’t let anyone hurt him, or any of you guys!”

Pink smiled. “That’s very nice of you, Clark. But, you should get home now.”

“Will you guys be okay here?” Clark asked. “What about Emerald?”

“She won’t be returning anytime soon,” Pink said. “You have nothing to worry about here.”

“I’m sorry I’m going home again,” Clark whispered. “Is it really okay?”

“Peri needs someone to watch over him,” Pink Topaz said. “And I’m sure your parents want to see you, too.”

Clark gives her a final hug and walks away.

Alunite sighs. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

They walk back inside the tiny home they made for Clark, where Sugar was laying down next to the Warp Pad, fast asleep.

“So, you saw what happened,” Pink said slowly.

“I did,” Alunite said. “And I’ve never seen a Ruby doing something like that. Are we even sure he’s a Ruby?”

“He is, and that’s what concerns me,” Pink said. “No Ruby should have powers like that.”

“Are you sure?” Alunite asked. “Pink, maybe you should just read his mind. I mean, I trust him now, but… don’t you think it’s just a little bit weird he is how he is?”

“I don’t want to invade his privacy,” Pink said firmly. “Besides, if his story is true, then I have no memories of his to read. He has no idea who he is. And that means, neither do we.”

“What do you _think_ he is?” Alunite asked.

“He is probably just a perfect soldier from Homeworld,” Pink Topaz said. “Created just like the other Rubies, but maybe something just went right with him.”

“And how he got to Earth?” Alunite asked.

Pink shrugged. “Who knows?” She sighed. “Why, do you think we should be worried about him?”

Alunite opened the door to his room with his Gem. “I’m more worried about what might happen _to_ him. Emerald saw how strong he was. I don’t like the idea of her calling for reinforcement, somehow…”

Pink Topaz sighed, as Alunite left. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

_In Kindergarten…_

Emerald cursed her luck as she climbed up the wall of Kindergarten. She hated this stupid teleporting belt that glitched at even the slightest bit of damage. She hated how the rain was damaging it further, and now she couldn’t even use it to escape this accursed cavern. She hated that her ship was most likely covered in rain water and likely short-circuited, and that was useless too. She hated that stupid Ruby and his stupid strange power, and how he damaged her belt so now she was totally cut off from her planet…

She pressed a button on her belt and was glad at least the recording device worked. “Log in, day 1. I tried to research the data within Kindergarten’s computers but was ambushed by the enemies. The Gem Legion is still active on Earth, and are apparently still monitoring the Earth actively. They attacked me before I could start the mission. I found a recently-discovered traitor Peridot, Facet AW06, Cut B5. I managed to hurt him, but that… that _Ruby_ stopped me from finishing the job.”

She paused. A _Ruby_ stopped her. That Ruby… unlike the others…

She wiped the water from her face as she sat down on a piece of the Kindergarten wall jutting out of the side. “That Ruby… I think we should keep a close eye on. He’s different. _Very_ different.”

She thought about that Ruby, and smiled. “Seems strange for a Ruby to be so big and strong and _perfect_ … And to just happen to be on Earth, as well? Strange, very strange… It seems as though he was _created_ to be a perfect soldier…”

She wiped her wet hair from her face. “I will attempt to collect data from Kindergarten’s computers once the rain clears. Though with my damaged equipment, I doubt that I will be able to send it to Homeworld. End log.”

She pressed the button on her belt again, and sighed. The rain wasn’t heavy, but it was likely going to damage her belt further if she tried to use it. Her fists clenched. Once she got her hands on that Ruby, she was going to _shatter_ that great big Gem of his.


End file.
